Upgrading to Windows XP

[rasch]

Here's my 2 =Y= on what not to even consider Windows XP:

Microsoft is implimenting a new, and proprietary, protocol that they hope will replace tcp/ip. For those who are unfamiliar with tcp/ip it's what makes the internet work. IP addresses, subnets, etc. tcp/ip is a free protocol developed by the industry as a whole ... much like linux. It's a sactioned, solid protocol.

MS's plan is to be able to charge individuals and companies for the right to use thier new protocol. The OS business is going to dry up as more companies move to open source solutions ... so MS has to have a new revenue cow.

If Windows XP becomes the standard the internet will be set back 10+ years in development and MS will get to decide who gets to use the internet and who gets to develop for it.

Please don't order Windows XP ...

[Operationz]

you don't have to worry about me and my workplace. we hate XP and will stay with NT (not 2000) for our os!
If M$ wants to play dirty, then so can a few of us consumers. Sure, XP may look drastically different but that comes with a price and by price I'm not talking about $$. M$ is truly the anti-christ....with the taliban a close 2nd

[mike144k]

The default xp looks like it is made by Fisher-Price not microsoft. Literally I have seen toys that look more professional.

Mike

[neoalphaflight]

oh no can this be microsoft bob incognito???? who remebers this project for Micro$oft? and he might just slip through into our pc with out us ever knowing.. he he he

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/pcwo/0924/pcwo0112.html

[Bullworth]

Hell no! My next upgrade will be to W2K. I saw a live demo of it at Circuit City and I agree that it looks like Windows for Toddlers.
XP is going to be M$s big push towards absolute domination of the software market. Not only that, but I've heard that many new technologies such as USB 2.0 are not supported, MP3 file quility will be degraded if it doesn't have a "digital thumbprint", the quality kept real, low, lots of multimedia problems in general; no Java support after that catfight with Sun Microsystems The sad thing is there are lots of people who just don't knwo any better and are going to purchase XP the minute is comes out just because they think it's going to be even better.
It has to be the most expensive and demanding upgrade so far! 300MHz, 128RAM and 1.5Gig? What worries me is when software manufacturers start making software only for XP. Time to learn Linux!

[squirrel2782]

I think these are all laments of those who actually have not tryed it for real. If you dont like the look of the desktop, guess what change to the classic windows look because it gives you that option. Also if you dont like there new networking protocal dont use it, I hate to break it to you but I have TCP/IP still. Your also wrong about MP3s. That is only for the encoding using there built in encoding. I have over 600 mp3s and I have had them on here for about 2 months and no problems with low quality sound. The only multimedia problems I have had is that I refuse to install Realplayer. Now if everyone wants to stick with whatever they have they are more than welcome too. All I can say is that Windows XP RC2 for me is a ton more stable than Windows 98SE ever was. The only real problem I ever had was with Nvidia 12.90 drivers installed. I upgraded to the new detanator XP drivers and its golden. I think you are all missing out on a good operating system if you dont spend the time to actually check it out. Oh I almost forgot there is Java support, you just have to download a 6mb patch. While Linux might be a great operating system It just isnt practicle for most people because it doesnt have the variety of software for it just yet.

[rasch]

Possibly I was unclear in my explaination:

Windows XP does not abandon tcp/ip altogether, that would be counter productive. The home user prolly won't notice. Where this becomes important is in the corporate environment, where standards are made and established.

These aren't laments of any kind. These warnings are from industry leaders who've been working with/testing XP since Alpha stage (IE: long before us end users got our hands on it).

If one justs looks at the history of Microsoft's corporate behavior one might not be so surprised that it has sights on makeing the internet as proprietary as possible.

Believe what you will ...

[themamboman]

I personally like XP. My biggest complaints with it are:

1) My 256meg RAM feels a little more like 128megs, due to heavy demands

2) The harddrive gets fragmented much faster than with Millenium.

Other than that, all seems to work well, and it feels more compatible than 2000 does.

[rasch]

Ooops! Forgot to put in my obligatory Linux plug

A word on stability: I agree, Windows is more stable now ... just now though. Why have people put up with the instability before? Ask me how long my Linux box has been running without a crash ... I take it down when I'm not around and for additions to it, but I can't remember when my linux box has crashed. I'm a UNIX Admin and we use NT/2000 for our middleware where I work. Us Admins (UNIX and NT) get a report stating when systems crash and how often. UNIX is never on the list ... most NT boxes crash daily (All the NT boxes are now Win2K boxes).

Virii: I fail to understand why people demand to use an OS that is so riddled with security bugs that a 15 year old psudo-hacker wanna-be can write a virus for it in his spare time ... and scare the pants off of every corporate NT Admin on the planet.

Variety of software: Most people use thier computer for a set range of tasks; word processing/spreadsheets, music, chatting, web browsing, graphics, etc. All of these things you can do on Linux in a very nice looking GUI.

Office product: StarOffice. Rocking office suit that's free.
Music: Freeamp (winamp varient), cdplayer(s), recording suits. Rio integration is great.
chatting: EveryBuddy, integrates many popular chat varieties into one program. Very cool.
Web Browsing: Netscape/Mozilla, Opera, many more.
Graphics: GIMP. This program is very versatile and powerful.
MainConcept has a video capture package out that runs on Linux, the Windose version seems fine to me (I'm a beginner video guy). The mpeg encoder is fast ... I forget the name of that utility.
CD-RW tools out there: cdrdao, CDR-Toaster, cdrecord, I've already made VCD's on linux and mpegs. There's even web based CD-RW sharing tools out there ... very cool.
DVD players are quality enough.
Games: Not as many as I'd like but there are some really good ones; Civilization, Myth2 ,etc.
Palm pilot tools are solid as a rock.
I admit, there is a larger variet of Windows software out there ... that's changing. Admittedly, Linux doesn't have FireWire support yet ... but, if hardware manufacturers would write linux drivers that issue would be solved.

Have I mentioned that all this software is free (not the games)?

The more proprietary technology that's out there the more likely that we are going to get railroaded into using whatever OS is given to us instead of us getting to choose. Proprietariness breeds poor quality.

[eyeofbeholder]

Let me jump in here. I too have recently upgraded from 2000 to XP. Overall, once you get past XP's new user interface, it's pretty much the same as 2000. As it was said before, change to the classic style if you don't like the new.

Since this is built on 2000, it's every bit as solid as 2000. Actually, you've got a bit more control over aborting applications.

It's got some nice features in it like, direct CD burning and numerous multimedia capabilities, but what makes XP really nice is it's boot speed. Less than half what 2000 took to boot.

In terms of TCPIP, I run a home network connected to a Linux server running DHCP. Absolutely no problems with IP addresses. In fact, I didn't know there was a different protocol until you mentioned it.

I like it.

[rasch]

Have you gotten XP to validate it's password to samba?

In any case, we should all be mindful of what's going on regardless of our individual preferences. Being a computer professional, Windows XP and the thought of one company controling my and my company's options is scary. Especially if that one company is MS.

[eyeofbeholder]

I understand your point about one company controlling everything. No I don't like it either and M$ has already been in trouble for monopolizing the industry.

And, no I don't have Samba validate the passwords. It's just a file server running DHCP, FTP, and a firewall.