That's a question Microsoft critics, consumers and some software companies are asking as the software giant prepares to dump more features into Windows XP than into any version of its ubiquitous operating system since Windows 95.
Windows XP--the upgrade to versions 95, 98, Me and 2000--goes on sale October 25 in the US. Microsoft says the new OS will be the company's biggest and costliest product launch ever--twice as much as Windows 95's coming-out party.
Among the new features: an Internet firewall, an integrated media player with CD-burning and DVD-playback features, remote access tools, moviemaking and photo-editing software, wireless capabilities, broadband networking and Internet messaging.
The long list of new features potentially puts an even longer list of companies in Microsoft's crosshairs, including Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, AOL Time Warner, Corel, InterVideo, MGI, Netopia, Network Ice, RealNetworks, Roxio, Ulead, Zone Labs, Symantec and as many as 20 other companies.
These companies should be concerned about the new Windows features competing against their standalone products, said Guernsey Research analyst Chris LeTocq. While some of the additions are inferior in capability to third-party products, according to analysts, many buyers will likely be content to use what Microsoft provides.
"So those features don't look like much, but then what happens?" LeTocq said. "The next release of Microsoft's operating system comes out with enough features so that, for most people, they don't need anything else. The range of the market that is addressed by the others' products is diminished dramatically."
Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett added: "People could look at what's there and use that as a jumping-off point to another product with more features. But the opposite is just as plausible, where they think what Microsoft put in is enough and they don't look for anything else."
Gillett noted that Windows XP extends some features from Windows Me, such as Web publishing, photo printing and photo manipulation, that could create new road kill. "Adobe certainly is potentially affected," he said.
Adding more features to Windows is not unusual, Gartner analyst Michael Silver said. "We've seen this before with compression tools, IP stacks and whatever. It does hurt to some extent, but there's not a lot you can do about it."
Microsoft has long maintained that not only does it have a right to add new features to the OS, but its customers benefit from the improvements.
For smaller competitors, however, Microsoft's decision to bundle technology into Windows can be devastating. As an extreme example, Microsoft's decision to bundle its Web browser with Windows in 1996 is credited with helping Microsoft win the browser war against Netscape Communications' Navigator and has been a key issue in the antitrust case that is awaiting a decision by a US federal Court of Appeals.
When the company included data-compression software into its DOS operating system in 1993, it triggered a legal battle with Stac Electronics, then the market leader in compression software, over patent infringement. Microsoft later lost the Stac case for US$120 million and was ordered to recall versions of its software with the technology. It later settled with Stac for $83 million by promising not to appeal.
From another perspective, some of the new features In Windows XP are so inferior to third-party products that they pose no threat at all, say analysts and software developers. Windows Media Player, for example, relies on third-party products to fully function and so doesn't necessarily work the way Microsoft promises without them. Some software companies say that being included in the operating system actually boosts sales.
