Microsoft Corp. Thursday released Windows XP Service Pack 1 to about 10,000 testers.
The service pack is intended to comply with the settlement
Microsoft reached with the U.S. Department of Justice last November by allowing consumers and computer manufacturers to replace
Microsoft middleware with third-party offerings.
The service pack offers options for managing, customizing or removing a number of Microsoft middleware products, including its
Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Windows Media Player, Window Messenger, and the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine. It also allows
users the same options for competing middleware products.
It also adds support for Microsoft’s new Mira technology, a set of Windows CE .NET-based technologies for smart display devices like
detachable, wireless mobile flat-screen monitors and digital televisions. Also included is support for Freestyle, a new user
interface to give consumers access to their music, videos and photos from anywhere in a room and to deliver TV on the PC.
Microsoft is expected to issue the final version of the service pack in summer.