John Naughton The Networker The Observer, Sunday October 21, 2001 Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make loopy. In computer stores up and down the country you will find managers and salespersons eagerly looking forward to Thursday. Why? Because on that day Microsoft officially launches Windows XP, the latest version of Bill Gates's licence to print money. The software has a fancy new interface, with snazzier colours and all kinds of ingenious shortcuts and bundled software for playing movies, MP3 files and streaming audio and video - in a flagrant repetition of the aggressive software-bundling behaviour that landed the company with an anti-trust suit. XP is also a Trojan horse that enables Mr Gates and a horde of even less welcome folks to invade your privacy, exploit your computer and empty your wallet. So why are all these idiots in computer stores drooling at the prospect? Answer: because Windows XP is a monstrous, bloated brute that requires a state-of-the- art PC and two gigabytes of hard disk space before it will even say 'hello'. This means any consumer foolish enough to want to run XP will probably have to buy a new PC. At a time when sales have stagnated, this is great news for the hard-pressed computer industry. So trebles all round for the suits in PC World, Currys and the like? Er, possibly not. For one thing, XP is being launched into a world now sinking into recession, which means corporate IT managers may not take kindly to the notion of having to order hundreds of new PCs simply to run a version of Excel with cooler graphics when their users are perfectly happy with the old, uncool version. Second, XP has some nasty surprises in store for its hapless purchasers. Chief among these is a fiendish new feature called 'product activation'. What this means is that even after you've purchased and installed the software, you have to contact Microsoft for permission to 'activate' it. How come? Well, during installation, XP surveys the PC's hardware and creates a 44-key code, which is a unique 'fingerprint' of your system. This effectively locks the copy of XP to your hardware and has a number of interesting implications. If you upgrade your hardware, for example, XP may 'deactivate' and require you to call Mr Gates for permission to reinstall. The same applies if you buy a new machine and desire to move your copy of XP to it. And so on. XP also comes with ingenious licensing options, all of which have the effect of locking you into upgrading not when you want to but when Microsoft decides you ought to. This is bad news, of course, for small companies; but it also scares the pants off industry giants such as BP, Argos, Cadbury Schweppes, Dixons, Marks & Spencer, GlaxoSmithKline and Shell. They have collectively written to DTI Minister Patricia Hewitt complaining that Microsoft's new tariff will generate a 94 per cent increase in the cost of software licences. They estimate that their licensing costs will rise by =A3880 million a year as a result, and want Hewitt to refer Microsoft to the Office of Fair Trading. Fat chance. New Labour is hooked on Microsoft. Last Thursday, trade journal Computer Weekly reported that hospital IT managers were appalled to discover that the NHS had signed a three-year licence with Microsoft without consulting them. And where the NHS goes, so too will the DfEE, the MoD, the DSS and even Hewitt's Department of Torpor and Indolence. In the end, of course, even New Labour will realise that XP is a step too far. In the meantime, taxpayers seeking alternatives to paying the Gates tithe may find something useful at www. livingwithoutmicrosoft. org. [Dead domain - no whois at 2009.05 - jhs@]