Windows XP: Is there life after icons?

It is all due to Windows XP, the new version of Microsoft's ubiquitous computer operating system that hits stores this fall - and is already touching off controversy.

One of the main issues: the dramatically stark, clean look of the software's opening screen, which differs markedly from the busy, icon-laden looks of older Windows products. The new interface is sort of like a city block that has been razed for a new housing development. And the former tenants - those icons for services such as America Online and RealNetworks - have to relocate.

Many technology companies that have had deals with computer makers to post links to their programs on the Windows desktop are scrambling to find a new home. In Windows XP, users at first go to an expanded "start" menu to pull up programs, instead of clicking on icons for common programs such as e-mail, Internet browsers or audio players. It's not clear how much flexibility computer makers will have to display links on the new start menu.

Microsoft points out that people who buy Windows XP are free to set up their own shortcuts and icons on the screen to any programs they wish. In fact, "if you want to take your desktop and make it look just like Windows 2000, you can do that," says Chris Jones, the Microsoft vice president overseeing Windows XP. The product will be available Oct. 25.

But many consumers aren't that enterprising. "The reason it's so important to be on the desktop is that most consumers are lazy," says Neil MacDonald, research director at Gartner Inc., a high-tech research firm in Stamford, Conn. He thinks users "are going to go with what's placed for them on the desktop by default."

And that could hurt companies that rely on icons to attract customers. "They [Microsoft] want to try to force consumers to use their stuff instead of AOL's, EarthLink's or anybody else's stuff," says Barry Schuler, chief executive of the America Online unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. "It makes it harder for consumers to find things that they want. We think they are going to hate it."

Customers want clean
Microsoft responds that the new design sprang from extensive testing with customers, who "want a clean desktop," said Shawn Sanford, a Windows product manager. "A lot of users look at their desktop as theirs. They don't want other people to come paint on their canvas." He adds that Microsoft programs won't be given preference in the new start menu.

Windows XP is a landmark product for Microsoft. It contains a host of new features, including better support for digital music and photography, and a snazzy new instant-messaging system complete with audio and video. There is even a new "help" feature that essentially allows someone else to take remote control of your personal computer to help you fix a glitch.

But the sleek, iconless look of Windows XP - the first thing people will see when they install the software or buy a PC loaded with it - is perhaps the most visible change.

Issues with desktop icons have dogged Microsoft before. In January 1998, under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, Microsoft agreed to allow computer makers to remove the desktop icon for Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, which competed with the browser from the former Netscape Communications Corp. The move was sparked by complaints from companies such as Compaq Computer Corp., which had been told that their license for Windows software would be revoked if they removed the Explorer icon.

Now, with Windows XP, Microsoft is replacing all icons in favor of a revamped, two-columned start button. On the right-hand side of the pull-up menu will be quick links to folders such as MyDocuments, MyPictures and MyMusic. Previously, users had to hunt around their PC desktops to find the information in those folders.

In the left-hand column will be links to perhaps seven or eight separate programs. The top two programs will always be e-mail and the Internet; beneath them will be other frequently used links, which will change according to how often users call them up. If someone uses a music player every day, it will likely stay on the list. If the person stops using it, it will drop off the initial menu, though the user could locate it with a few more clicks.

Both Microsoft and non-Microsoft programs will rotate through the menu according to how often they are used, Microsoft says. If a person gets Internet access through AOL or another provider, such as EarthLink Inc., those companies' icons would become the default e-mail and Internet links in the left-hand column. No Internet connection is set as a default until the user goes through a setup procedure, Microsoft says. Microsoft stresses that exact details about the start menu's size and composition aren't set.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif., likened the old icons to unwanted ads. "If I'm not using [the icons], do I really want them there?" he asks.

What's after icons
Microsoft approached computer makers several months ago to ask what they thought of getting rid of icons. The "question was asked, whose choice should it be" to add an icon to the opening screen? says Michael J. Ritter, vice president of product marketing at computer maker Gateway Inc. in San Diego. "We all came to the conclusion to let it be the customer's choice." In the past, some users had complained that preinstalled icons directed them to Web sites that weren't yet operating, or had moved, he adds.

Right now, PC makers such as Compaq, Gateway and Dell Computer Corp. make money by leasing space on the desktop to software providers, and it is unclear what will happen to the value of those arrangements once icons leave the top screen.

Compaq, however, expects to have its own folder somewhere in the start menu that links to "our own page, [and] our own software," says Kelly Duplantis, a marketing manager at the Houston-based PC maker. Financial deals with Compaq's partners shouldn't change, she says. But she does expect Microsoft to curtail the number of programs now listed on the menu to allow those included to stand out.

RealNetworks, the Web-media company that has deals with PC makers for desktop icons, will be in a different spot in Windows XP. But RealNetworks officials don't think it will affect business, since users can easily create a shortcut icon to the service. And if a user visits a Web site that transmits audio or video in RealNetworks' format, the PC will automatically call up the player or take steps to download it, a spokesman points out.

AOL may have more at stake, as much of the company's recent subscriber growth has been driven by agreements with computer makers that include promotion via those familiar screen icons. With no initial icon on the Windows XP screen, users may have a harder time finding a link to the service. Indeed, in March, AOL executives held a series of Windows XP briefings on Capitol Hill for congressional staffers, and one of the bullet points of the company's presentation stated that the "inability to control or configure the desktop [in Windows XP] creates a significant competitive imbalance."

AOL is also having trouble negotiating a separate, direct deal with Microsoft for inclusion elsewhere in the new operating system. Previously, users could also find AOL in the "online services folder" in Windows, but Windows XP lacks such a folder.

Says Ken Wasch, president of the Software and Information Industry Association, whose members include AOL but not Microsoft: "America Online recognizes better than everyone that not being on the desktop would be a punishment worse than death."

Gary McWilliams contributed to this article. Real estate on your computer desktop is about to become a lot more valuable.

It is all due to Windows XP, the new version of Microsoft's ubiquitous computer operating system that hits stores this fall - and is already touching off controversy.

One of the main issues: the dramatically stark, clean look of the software's opening screen, which differs markedly from the busy, icon-laden looks of older Windows products. The new interface is sort of like a city block that has been razed for a new housing development. And the former tenants - those icons for services such as America Online and RealNetworks - have to relocate.

Many technology companies that have had deals with computer makers to post links to their programs on the Windows desktop are scrambling to find a new home. In Windows XP, users at first go to an expanded "start" menu to pull up programs, instead of clicking on icons for common programs such as e-mail, Internet browsers or audio players. It's not clear how much flexibility computer makers will have to display links on the new start menu.

Microsoft points out that people who buy Windows XP are free to set up their own shortcuts and icons on the screen to any programs they wish. In fact, "if you want to take your desktop and make it look just like Windows 2000, you can do that," says Chris Jones, the Microsoft vice president overseeing Windows XP. The product will be available Oct. 25.

But many consumers aren't that enterprising. "The reason it's so important to be on the desktop is that most consumers are lazy," says Neil MacDonald, research director at Gartner Inc., a high-tech research firm in Stamford, Conn. He thinks users "are going to go with what's placed for them on the desktop by default."

And that could hurt companies that rely on icons to attract customers. "They [Microsoft] want to try to force consumers to use their stuff instead of AOL's, EarthLink's or anybody else's stuff," says Barry Schuler, chief executive of the America Online unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. "It makes it harder for consumers to find things that they want. We think they are going to hate it."

Customers want clean
Microsoft responds that the new design sprang from extensive testing with customers, who "want a clean desktop," said Shawn Sanford, a Windows product manager. "A lot of users look at their desktop as theirs. They don't want other people to come paint on their canvas." He adds that Microsoft programs won't be given preference in the new start menu.

Windows XP is a landmark product for Microsoft. It contains a host of new features, including better support for digital music and photography, and a snazzy new instant-messaging system complete with audio and video. There is even a new "help" feature that essentially allows someone else to take remote control of your personal computer to help you fix a glitch.

But the sleek, iconless look of Windows XP - the first thing people will see when they install the software or buy a PC loaded with it - is perhaps the most visible change.

Issues with desktop icons have dogged Microsoft before. In January 1998, under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, Microsoft agreed to allow computer makers to remove the desktop icon for Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, which competed with the browser from the former Netscape Communications Corp. The move was sparked by complaints from companies such as Compaq Computer Corp., which had been told that their license for Windows software would be revoked if they removed the Explorer icon.

Now, with Windows XP, Microsoft is replacing all icons in favor of a revamped, two-columned start button. On the right-hand side of the pull-up menu will be quick links to folders such as MyDocuments, MyPictures and MyMusic. Previously, users had to hunt around their PC desktops to find the information in those folders.

In the left-hand column will be links to perhaps seven or eight separate programs. The top two programs will always be e-mail and the Internet; beneath them will be other frequently used links, which will change according to how often users call them up. If someone uses a music player every day, it will likely stay on the list. If the person stops using it, it will drop off the initial menu, though the user could locate it with a few more clicks.

Both Microsoft and non-Microsoft programs will rotate through the menu according to how often they are used, Microsoft says. If a person gets Internet access through AOL or another provider, such as EarthLink Inc., those companies' icons would become the default e-mail and Internet links in the left-hand column. No Internet connection is set as a default until the user goes through a setup procedure, Microsoft says. Microsoft stresses that exact details about the start menu's size and composition aren't set.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif., likened the old icons to unwanted ads. "If I'm not using [the icons], do I really want them there?" he asks.

What's after icons
Microsoft approached computer makers several months ago to ask what they thought of getting rid of icons. The "question was asked, whose choice should it be" to add an icon to the opening screen? says Michael J. Ritter, vice president of product marketing at computer maker Gateway Inc. in San Diego. "We all came to the conclusion to let it be the customer's choice." In the past, some users had complained that preinstalled icons directed them to Web sites that weren't yet operating, or had moved, he adds.

Right now, PC makers such as Compaq, Gateway and Dell Computer Corp. make money by leasing space on the desktop to software providers, and it is unclear what will happen to the value of those arrangements once icons leave the top screen.

Compaq, however, expects to have its own folder somewhere in the start menu that links to "our own page, [and] our own software," says Kelly Duplantis, a marketing manager at the Houston-based PC maker. Financial deals with Compaq's partners shouldn't change, she says. But she does expect Microsoft to curtail the number of programs now listed on the menu to allow those included to stand out.

RealNetworks, the Web-media company that has deals with PC makers for desktop icons, will be in a different spot in Windows XP. But RealNetworks officials don't think it will affect business, since users can easily create a shortcut icon to the service. And if a user visits a Web site that transmits audio or video in RealNetworks' format, the PC will automatically call up the player or take steps to download it, a spokesman points out.

AOL may have more at stake, as much of the company's recent subscriber growth has been driven by agreements with computer makers that include promotion via those familiar screen icons. With no initial icon on the Windows XP screen, users may have a harder time finding a link to the service. Indeed, in March, AOL executives held a series of Windows XP briefings on Capitol Hill for congressional staffers, and one of the bullet points of the company's presentation stated that the "inability to control or configure the desktop [in Windows XP] creates a significant competitive imbalance."

AOL is also having trouble negotiating a separate, direct deal with Microsoft for inclusion elsewhere in the new operating system. Previously, users could also find AOL in the "online services folder" in Windows, but Windows XP lacks such a folder.

Says Ken Wasch, president of the Software and Information Industry Association, whose members include AOL but not Microsoft: "America Online recognizes better than everyone that not being on the desktop would be a punishment worse than death."

Gary McWilliams contributed to this article.