Sometimes I'll walk into a bookstore (or other places where paperback books are sold, such as the supermarket or hardware store) and see two displays of work by a single author. One will be in, say, a red cover while the second might be in a green cover. Close inspection reveals that the content of the book is the same in both instances; only the covers differ.

When I'm in a good mood, I tell myself that it's marketing research - the publisher is trying to determine whether red covers outsell green covers (or vice-versa), all else being equal. But when the dark mood is upon me, I begin to imagine base motives on the publisher's part, a hope that unsuspecting readers may think these are two different books and buy one of each. Some think Microsoft does much the same thing with operating systems.

You may remember that I predicted that Microsoft - faced with no new operating system to ship this year - would move closer to a subscription licensing model to even out cash flow, and make its revenue more predictable, year-over-year. This could also lead to more thoughtful (and fully tested) releases of software since the exact timing of the shipment wouldn't be as important. There are benefits to both Microsoft and you, the customer, in this scenario.

Still, some of my fellow pundits at other publications have speculated that Redmond may simply design various packaging differences in order to sell more copies of the S.O.O.S. (Same Old Operating System).

Recall that Windows XP was originally shipped in two versions - XP Professional and XP Home. But in the past year or so, we've seen new packaging - XP Media Center Edition (XP MCE), XP Tablet PC Edition, and XP Starter Edition (you won't find this one in the U.S., as it's a low-cost, stripped down version for developing nations.) Either buoyed by the success of these packages, or more likely pushed by stockholders to keep lifting revenue, it's been suggested that more "special packaging" could occur. Specifically, it's being speculated that up to seven different packages of the new desktop operating system (codename: Longhorn) could show up in the Microsoft product list for 2006.

One well-connected pundit (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_preview_2005.asp) has predicted the following packages: