![Microsoft then-CEO Bill Gates poses with Windows XP "gold" disc. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08292001104731218.jpg "Bill Gates and Windows XP Gold disc")
![Bill Gates signs off Windows XP gold master, Aug. 24, 2001. A helicopter waits to fly off the code. [Ari Pernick]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08292211436001377.jpg "Bill Gates signs off Windows XP gold code")
2001年10月25日一大早，Gates和Jim Allchin共同将XP母盘通过直升机运送的形式交付厂商。
![Windows XP boxes come off the assembly lines during simpler times. Microsoft offered only two versions of the operating system. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/0829242425086409.jpg "Windows XP boxes")
彩盒装的Windows XP，无数人脑海中的美好回忆
![While people wanting this disc waited until Oct. 25, 2001, XP shipped on new PCs more than a month earlier. [Priceminister]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08292631361191882.jpg "Windows XP disc")
许多人为了XP推迟了购买PC的时间
![Sign of the Times -- the launch took place in New York about six week after the Twin Towers fell. Microsoft culled back its launch plans in respect to the fallen. [Nate Mook]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/0829284972500009.jpg "Windows XP Billboard")
时代广场的XP广告
![Bill Gates and Jim Allchin kick off the Windows XP launch event, Oct. 25, 2001. [Nate Mook]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/082930543094618.jpg "Bill Gates and Jim Allchin")
Bill Gates和 Jim Allchin在XP发布会上
![Choir sings "America the Beautiful" during Windows XP's launch. The song had renewed meaning for many, following terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and US Pentagon the previous month. [Nate Mook]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08293261114064689.jpg "America the beautiful")
合唱团在会上演出"America the Beautiful" 曲目，祭奠当年发生的911事件罹难者。
![Gateway gave out cows -- befitting its black-and-white moo herd motif -- during Windows XP's New York launch. The direct PC maker started selling XP systems more than a month earlier. [Larry Seltzer]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08293371301387740.jpg "Windows XP Moo Cow")
Gateway的吉祥物奶牛也穿上了XP T恤
![Sting performs in Bryant Park, as part of Windows XP launch festivities, Oct. 25, 2001. [Tammy Loh]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08293681471032621.jpg "Sting concert for Windows XP")
Bryant Park，乐队庆贺XP发布
![About three weeks after XP's launch, Gates unveiled Windows XP Tablet PC Edition during Comdex 2001. The first Tablet PCs debuted about a year later. Here Gates holds one during the November 2002 launch event. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/0829389593341770.jpg "Bill Gates and Tablet PC")
XP发布3个月后，盖茨在Comdex 2001上公布Windows XP Tablet PC Edition，这也是现在风头正盛的平板产品的前身。
Windows XP Embedded for ATM 正在运行
![About six weeks after Windows XP launched, Bill Gates debuted a second, media-oriented user interface codename "Freestyle". The first Windows XP Media Center Edition PCs shipped for holiday 2002. Here Gates poses with MCE 2005, three years later. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/082942112144003044.jpg "Bill Gates and Windows Media Center 2005")
XP发布6周后，微软公布了开发代号为 "Freestyle"的系统，之后在2005年还公布了MCE2005，将家电数字化。
![Microsoft chose actor Tom Arnold as its spokesman for Windows XP Media Center Edition, which officially launched Oct. 29, 2002. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08294412169836136.jpg "Tom Arnold and Windows Media Center")
Tom Arnold成为Windows XP Media Center Edition代言人
Windows XP Service Pack 1,在2002年9月发布，遵循美国反托拉斯法案，让用户可以自行设定默认程序。
![In March 2004, the European Un ion Competition Commission ruled that Microsoft violated antitrust laws and must release locally Windows XP sans the media player. Microsoft coyly planned to call the new version Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, but later changed this middle finger to European trustbusters to "N". [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08294814845933007.png "Windows XP N")
在欧盟的压力下，微软发布Windows XP N特别版，将一些组件从系统中默认去除，并可选竞争对手的产品。
2004年夏天，Windows XP SP2发布，没有一款补丁包的发布可以这样成功，它直接奠定了接下来6年XP的市场地位。
![Keeping with Bill Gates' mandate that security be Microsoft's top priority, Windows Service Pack 2 added the "Security Center", featuring Firewall, Automatic Updates and antivirus prompts. [Microsoft],](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/082952161359469763.jpg "Windows XP Security Center")
标志性的SP2安全中心，它让XP史无前例地更安全和稳定。
![On Aug. 11, 2004, Microsoft unveiled Windows XP Starter Edition, which two months later went into trials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Shown here is box for the Indonesian edition. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/082954171745247743.jpg "Windows XP Starter Editon Indonesia")
2004年8月11日，微软公布XP入门版，虽然很不好用，但为发展中国家的信息化作出了贡献。
![Microsoft had several Windows XP Starter Edition objectives: Increase sales in emerging markets; do so without causing pricing backlash in mature markets; and reduce piracy. Shown here is the Hindi version, which like others lacks capabilities found in full XP. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08295618738001876.jpg "Windows XP Starter Edition Hindi")
![Bill Gates introduces Ultra-Mobile PC, codename "Origami", in March 2006. Microsoft provided partners with reference designs, hoping for devices selling for under $500, but the first UMPCs sold for twice as much or more. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/082958191260787848.jpg "Bill Gates UMPC")
比尔盖茨在2006年三月启动了UMPC计划，这也是小型平板的前身，可以说微软在XP时代就已经给业界指明了方向。
![Before iPad, there was Ultra-Mobile PC. Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows XP, shown here on the Samsung Q1, offered tablet-size, touchscreen capabilities four years before Apple released iPad. [Microsoft]](http://static.cnbetacdn.com/newsimg/111026/08300020981282345.jpg "Samsung Q1 UMPC")