If you thought that Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was the last of the big updates, think again. Speaking yesterday at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that a number of important security initiatives were underway for Windows, some of which would be part of a pre-Longhorn "Release 2" for Windows XP. Beyond noting this, Ballmer did not disclose any details regarding when we might see R2, or just what it would contain. In fact, he didn"t give any time frames for anything, be it Longhorn, Windows Server 2005, Office 12, or when Steinbrenner plans to make his life easier by recruiting Clone War rejects.
Our man on the scene noted that several people understood this talk of Release 2 to be a kind of rebranding of "XP Reloaded," but our gut feeling here is that we"re looking at something different. From our talks with Microsoft (both on and off the record), XP Reloaded was nothing but an internal name for what we"re seeing now: the big 2004 refresh, featuring not only Windows XP SP2, but also Media Center Edition 2005. It"s important to note that in Microsoft"s eyes, MCE 2005 is the start of something special, and by special I mean a new OS that won"t be relegated to entertainment centers in the home if Microsoft has their way. Think XP Home + MCE. But I shan"t get into that now, because there are bigger obstacles to address.