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The trouble with XP
By DAVE GUSSOW
"Right from the beginning, I had trouble shutting down the computer," said Ms. Beceden, 70, of Spring Hill. "I had to actually pull the plug a couple of times." Her problem? She moved her Logitech cordless mouse from her old PC to the new one, and its software driver wouldn't work with XP. Microsoft says XP stands for experience and calls it the best Windows ever. But for many early users of the new operating system it means exasperation. Users have reported problems similar to Ms. Beceden's since the new operating system was released in October: software that won't run, hardware that won't connect, networks that don't network. When XP was launched, Microsoft and its supporters downplayed such problems as ephemeral, reflecting a brief lag time before the makers of printers, monitors and other devices issued updated drivers that would work just fine with the new version of Windows. But the problems keep coming. And they're not surprising to veteran Microsoft-watchers. "It's happened not just once, but over and over again," said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of system software for market research company International Data Corp. "The same sort of thing happened when Windows 3.1 applications wouldn't work with Windows 95." It's a chronic problem when Microsoft comes out with a new or upgraded operating system, Kusnetzky says, but the company keeps getting away with what he calls "the creative use of incompatibility." That, he says, encourages people to buy new software and hardware, but "they don't drive people to demand Microsoft to fix it." The computer industry pinned a lot of hopes on Windows XP to drive sales for the holidays. But while several PCmakers such as Hewlett-Packard and eMachines reported higher-than-expected sales, most experts attribute demand to deep price cuts offered by the manufacturers, not to XP. "The adoption of Windows XP is pretty much along the lines of what we projected it would be," Kusnetzky said. "It would be slow but steady and word would get out that it would do what Microsoft said it would do." The main selling point was stability and the end of the computer crashes signaled by the infamous Blue Screen of Death. On that point, XP appears to be living up to its billing, according to Yardena Arar, senior editor at PC World magazine. But what has surprised the magazine's editors is not only the number of conflicts with the drivers needed for other hardware, but also how Microsoft and the other vendors have handled them. "It just seems like the hardware vendors have been pretty slow to come out with the drivers," Arar said. "We've seen a general lack of support on the part of the PC vendors. There seems to be some kind of weird stuff going on between Microsoft and the (original equipment manufacturers). They certainly don't have their stories straight." In some cases, a fix offered by Microsoft may not be the same as one developed by the original manufacturer, which at best creates confusion for consumers. PC World (www.pcworld.com) published a list of the top XP problems and solutions in its January issue, along with links for more information. Arar suggests consumers do more than use Microsoft's online upgrade adviser or check its compatibility lists before switching to XP. "You probably have to do a little more research than you do normally, or seriously consider a dual boot situation," she said, which would mean having two operating systems and switching back and forth as needed. Another option, of course, is simply to keep the computer and non-XP operating system you have, particularly if it's working well and you're happy with it. IDC's Kusnetzky suggests that many consumers will look at XP and not see much difference from what they have. "Most people only use a small set of functions on a computer and what runs it," he said. "They're happy with it, and the fact that (XP) will do hundreds of other things doesn't matter."' In fact, a surprising number of people cling to older technology. In 2000, according to IDC, Microsoft sold 750,000 copies of Windows 3.1, which was replaced by Windows 95, and 11.5-million copies of Windows 95, which was replaced in by Windows 98. "Microsoft would like everyone to believe that people immediately abandon" old software when new versions are released, he said. "That has never been the case, and it's not the case now." And even if people are unhappy, Microsoft is still winning, he says. The software giant controlled 88 percent of the desktop market in 1999, 92 percent in 2000 and, while the final numbers aren't in, even more this year. It's nearest competitor, Apple's Macintosh operating system, went from 4.5 percent in 1999 to 3.2 percent in 2000. "Fast-growing" Linux, an open-source operating system available for free downloads, has about 1.5 percent, he said. "If people are angry with Microsoft, what do they do?" he asked. "Where do they go?" - Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4228.
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