MetaFrame, Windows both go XP

Any similarity between the name of Citrix's new release of MetaFrame, XP, and the forthcoming release of Microsoft's Windows is purely coincidental, Citrix insists.

The Florida-based company's head of product development, Martin Duursma, has been in Auckland this week to launch MetaFrame XP. At the same time, Microsoft was revealing details in the US about Windows XP, the successor to both Microsoft 2000 and Millennium Edition, that was formerly known as Whistler.

“It’s a pure coincidence that we chose the same qualifier, although we were first,” claims Citrix's Duursma.

“We chose the name and told Microsoft about three months ago, but I guess it’s one of those internal communications issues. We were dealing with one part of Microsoft and another part of the company came up with its name.”

The new version of MetaFrame, Citrix’s server-based computing solution, gets a new system management console that handles from end users and licences to servers. Citrix has also changed the licensing model to a concurrent user programme — companies will no longer have to pay a server licence and a user licence.

Microsoft, for its part, says Windows XP will be a subscription-based offering, requiring users to keep on paying for the operating system and applications. The OS is also far larger than either Windows 2000 or Me, with a recommendation of at least 128MB of RAM. The OS is in beta with an estimated launch date of the end of the year.