What's that? Windows XP is finally out? Sorry, we were too busy scoping out the iPod to notice. (If you think the timing on Apple's unveiling of its controversial new digital device is a mere coincidence, you're far less suspicious than we are.) Microsoft continues to tout XP as the operating system equivalent of having your brain's pleasure centers electrically stimulated while eating a whole pie and winning the lottery, but from our perspective, its release means less to us than the average annual rainfall in Ecuador. Why, just this morning someone brought up the XP release, and we interrupted to say "Not now, Bill-- we just found out that Ecuador gets forty-four inches of rain each year, and we're far too preoccupied with that astonishing piece of information to think about the XP launch right now." It's all about priorities, you know.

Still, we know that a decent-sized chunk of the world has its eyes on Microsoft's latest operating system, so we figured we should mention it. See, quite apart from the scads of consumer PC users who have been beaten down by years of abuse at the hands of Windows 3.1/95/98/Me and who believe XP to be their salvation (poor benighted little beggars), several analysts and industry bigwigs are hoping that XP's breathtaking system requirements will give the economy a much-needed kick in the pants by inspiring people to rush right out and drop a bundle on a new Wintel system that can actually run XP without catching fire. Yes, it's a heartbreaking cycle of frustration and horror, but hey, spirit-broken Wintel users always hoping that "the next upgrade will make everything all right" is what makes the world go 'round.

Based on that principle, plenty of folks in the PC industry expect an XP-driven boost in hardware sales. Take, for example, Mike Dell, who (as faithful viewer Larry Richardson notes) told MSNBC that he expects his company's fourth quarter sales to rise, due largely to consumer demand spurred by the rule of thumb that any computer more than two years old isn't good enough to run XP. The reason that consumer demand will spike, of course, is because Windows XP is so heartstoppingly incredible that everyone's going to want to use it.

How do we know it's so great? Several reasons, all of which are listed in a WIRED article. For one thing, it's being launched in New York City "to help remind the world that New York still represents strength and determination," according to Bill Gates. So it's a humanitarian product launch, and not at all exploitative. If it were, then Sting wouldn't be hyping XP with his free concert! Sting also reportedly demanded that free copies of XP be given to Manhattan schools affected by last month's terrorist attacks-- so XP is good like firefighters and the Red Cross. See? It has to be wonderful. And therefore everyone will want it, and Dell's sales will go up.

Hey, wait a minute-- faithful viewer Michael Schmid just pointed out that the WIRED article was written by one "Michelle Delio." We'd consider that simply a remarkable coincidence, except that we all know Michael Dell is just the guy whose severe lack of imagination would prompt him to choose such an unoriginal and obvious pseudonym. So now Mikey's writing fake articles hyping XP in hopes of driving hardware trade-up sales? Oh, the humanity... the economy must be worse than we thought. Still, that iPod is something else, isn't it?

By the way, if you're still itching for more information on the newly-released Windows XP, faithful viewer Mark K. Ehlert pointed out that The MacObserver's coverage has all you need to know. Enjoy.