Rating: 
Summary: Forced to purchase
Review: Our company purchased a new HP laptop that came with XP Home edition. We really wanted Win 98 but it only came with XP Home edition. We now find out that you can only connect to a domain with XP Pro. We are now forced to buy XP Pro. This is a rip-off win95, win98 and me all had this feature Microsoft took it out of XP Home to force business users to purchase Pro. Microsoft is hurting our business!
Rating:
Summary: same features lower price
Review: SuSe Linux 7.3 has better firewall, crypto file system, virus mail scanner and PGP encryption for e-mail. Also outperforms win2000 in many performance tests. Now that's smart! Bring on the competition!
Rating:
Summary: more choice and service, less commercialism
Review: While all the lemmings are unwittingly jumping into the sea of mass consumerism, I for one have taken a step back. I have always been a die-hard MS fan, supporting them in all their efforts in the past. As their customer service went from hard copy manuals to 800 numbers to a fee for every call made to tech support, I began to wonder. I began to get upset at having to wait for 30 minutes on my dime because of a bug in MS products. I paid good money for these products, shouldn't I get good service in return? I feel like, "Now that you've purchased the product, go away". Invasion of privacy occurs every day. Perhaps, for some folks this isn't a problem. They don't mind the constant spam. They don't mind the phone calls at home on the weekends at odd hours suggesting that they can't live without another gadget. XP is another step in this direction. It was bad enough that I had to justify my last purchase of Office 2000 by calling MS when my laptop gave up the ghost (several times, I might add). XP is even more intrusive. XP now wants to know the configuration of my computer in order to use software I purchased? You've got to be kidding. XP wants me to register within a period of time or the software ceases to work? What if your TV or microwave or telephone stopped working because you didn't send in all those registration cards? Would you continue to support these products? Don't think so. This type of strong-arming is unacceptable. Perhaps you remember Lotus? It was a great product but people hated the copy protection- that's one main reason people went to Excel. XP scares me into believing that I have to sign up for Passport to access to Internet. XP puts all my personal information in one convenient place? Why, how much easier for the hacker to access my personal records. Interent Explorer won't let me change the default screen, again continuing to bombard me with MS products. Is this true? Are you aware of how your surfing habits are being recorded through the use of these "go between" applications? XP does not give me the option to record my music in MP3 format. XP continually assaults you with their offerings of their peripheral products- choking off your choices and killing off the competition. With no competition, they can continue to maintain their complacency at the expense of you and me. Democracy? More like dictatorship. You probably are not aware of the ways your MS programs send out information without your knowledge or permission. For instance, I bought the new MS keyboard the other day. It asked me if I wanted to register. No, I don't want to register a stinkin' keyboard. Next thing you know, ZoneAlarm is letting me know that the keyboard as well as Explorer as well as Windows Media are all trying to send information out of my computer without my permission. For what purpose? Maybe that's okay with you but not for me. My computer is my computer! I do not want less choice with expensive products that lull me into believing that they are feature rich. I will never use these "features". Come on now, how many of you regular folks out there use even 30% of these features? Why should I spend more money on a dress shirt when I can get a superior product from Lands End for less money? No, I don't want commercialism rammed down my throat. No, I don't want my computer to be reduced to a portal by which companies can come into my house at all hours and assault me with products I don't want. What am I going to do? Why, I'm going over to Linux and Star Office. Excellent products that cost pennies compared to you-know-who. Yes, I'll still be able to do the things I need to do- browsing, e-mail, word-processing, graphics and spreadsheets. And, would you believe this software still reads and writes MS files too? So, I won't have compatibility issues that initially concerned me. What will I do with the money I save? Well, I understand that NYC has several worthwhile charities I can contribute to. Strength and Honor I say, and long live competition and capitalism!
Rating: 
Summary: Got to give credit to Micro$oft
Review: Finally, what PC enthusiasts and power users have been waiting
for - an OS that delivers. For once, Micro$oft delivered a product that holds what they
have claimed it to be - a revolution. Despite what people has said about Windows 95, the reality is,
it fell short of what an OS should be like - relatively few
bugs, stable, secure, and ease of use. Win 95 only has half of
one of the above (ease of use); whereas Linux falls short on
ease of use (people are working on it) and a more narrow
commercial soft/hardware base. Windows 2000 was really close except it was much tilted towards
work rather than play. Now Windows XP Pro finally gives what
every power users want: perfect work + play balance. Games run fine and fast (w/ appropriate drivers) on Win XP;
sound and music are fully supported, and the proven NT kernel
was stabler than ever for a PC OS. Users who desire a stable and secure (with some option
tweaking) mutiuser, multitasking platform would adore this OS.
The EFS (encrypted file system, under NTFS partition), active
directory, kerberos, and a simple personal firewall(!) provides
a secure working environment. Users who wish the best
perfomance with their games and full plug & play support for
joysticks, etc. would also find this OS compelling - the
compatibility mode which enables programs to run under older
version of Windows will keep most older games happy. Users who
needed all that AND needs to work with multinational programs
would benefit from the integrated language pack which gives
decent support for reading, and inputing multiple languages in
all windows programs (including menu boxes and text windows).
The newly face-lifted interface is quite pleasing while still
keeping its functionality from the previous windows version
(seriously, if you don't like the UI, maybe you should consider
using other versions of OS on your PC and forget about the goodies I just mentioned). What is perhaps more interesting is the highly integrated
functions within the OS. It is definitely a very deep love-it-
or-hate-it relationship with Windows Media Player (which plays
DVD now), MSN messenger, integrated CD Burning, and WIndows
movie maker. Personally I have iced all of these applications
up by deleting their shortcuts, disabling them, or
disassociating them from certain files; you just have to tweak
around them if you believe they are annoying (but maybe not to
your wife or kids who holds a seperate account and knows
little). Ah.... and perhaps the good old product activation you have all
heard of - it's really not much of a hassle. It's just sending
a hashed (the fancy computer geeky term for randomizing a
number) key from the CD-Key to get an ID from M$ to make the OS
useable, nothing much. YOU DON"T HAVE TO REGISTER AND GIVE ANY
PERSONAL INFO TO M$. (I did not register) It is definitely not
a hassle to reactivate if it happens (it's just a phone call).
All this just means that every user should be aware of what can
be done under the license agreement. Windows XP Pro is very good if: 1) You need to have a stable,
relatively secure working PC environment that can also act as a
gaming platform. 2) You are worried about being hacked and
want some sort of protection when connected to the net. 3) You
need to work with multinational language based programs and
need to input foreign languages. Stay away from Windows XP if: 1) You disdain Micro$oft in their
business approach. 2) You tend to "backup" M$ software around
and "lend" it to people you know. 3) You dislike OS that COULD
contain bugs and that makes you very uncomfortable. 4) You do
not like the interface of Windows and believe it is inferior
and non ergonomical. The bottom line is, for a PC OS, Windows XP Pro deserves a 5-
star because the PC world is finally getting a highly complete OS after about roughly 15 years.
Rating:
Summary: Pits Stop
Review: After the Millenium debacle I thought maybe Bill and the team would get it right. WRONG ! This version is the pits. It will not recognize so many programs I'm running it is virtually useless. It offers nothing that I don't already have. I don't quite understand how or why Microsoft feels it is the Goliath of the industry and everyone must write to their specs. Even my Norton Utilities isn't recognized by XP nor the program I use to download images from my digital camera. All in all, I can't wait to sell it to someone who is a beginner and has no programs which will be in conflict with XP. I think they could have done a much better job writing this but then ...they just don't care do they ?
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthwhile upgrade
Review: This version of Windows is rather impressive. After using it for a few days now, I am beginning to like it a lot. It is very user friendly, and, most importantly, it won't crash. A few of my programs will still crash, but they don't take Windows down with them. That is enough insentive to buy this in itself. The fact that it looks nicer and is easier to use are simply added bonuses. My qualms with it are that it is somewhat overpriced, and the product activation is a real drag if you want to upgrade more than one computer. It is supposed to prevent software piracy, but all it means for the home user is that you have to buy a new copy of the software for each computer you own. Aside from that, this is definetly a must-have upgrade (if your comp. meets the minimum requirements).
Rating:
Summary: Faster, more stable, manages RAM better, nice features
Review: Unlike many, I thought that Win ME was an improvement over Win 98, and XP is a quantum leap from ME. Most thoughtful critics of XP will admit that it's a big improvement, but complain about the activation requirement and the perceived attempt by Microsoft to crush its rivals by integrating still more features into the OS. OK, so you have to activate XP with Microsoft during the first 30 days. Big deal. How is that different from registering (and paying for) Norton Anti-Virus updates after the first year? (Speaking of Norton, NAV 2001 will not run under XP, but there's a rebate coupon for upgrading to 2002). As for integrating new features into the OS, I don't see this as part of an evil plot. In the bad old days, people often had to buy after-market seat belts, stereos, and even air-conditioners for their cars, until the auto-makers got smart and started including these "options" as standard equipment. That was seen as progress, not a heavy-handed attempt to establish a monopoly. It's become fashionable to routinely bash Microsoft, and with some good reason. But let's give them credit when they get it right. Most users want increased functionality for their PCs, and aren't going to get all bent out of shape if they get it along with the OS itself, as opposed to buying it from third-party vendors. This OS offers consumers a stable platform that's faster and, at least on my PC (1 Ghz P-3 with 256 MB of RAM), manages memory much more efficiently than previous versions of Windows did. Installation over Win ME was very easy and took less than an hour. Before installing, the software checks your PC for any possible hardware or software incompatibilities. This check is very thorough, and errs on the side of overly cautious. While it warned me of several possible problems, everything worked fine after the upgrade. My Canon scanner works much better (and faster) with the scanner "wizard" built into Win XP than it ever did with the third-party software Canon provided. There does not seem to be the gradual loss of system resources that I found to be the case with ME. With ME, after several hours of using several programs and performing various tasks, I would almost invariably have to reboot in order to avoid low-memory problems, even with 256 MB of RAM. So far, that has not been necessary with XP, and the only reboots I've had to do were after installing new software. AOL v. 7.0 has crashed twice, but the system did not crash and no restart was needed. This is a big improvement over ME. I like the new interface, not just because it's more attractive, but because it gives the user more control over the way things are laid out. The folder options are quite impressive, and organized in a logical way. The taskbar and Start Menu are more customizable than before, and there's less clutter on the taskbar when you have many open windows, since the OS groups the taskbar buttons by application. There are only three basic XP color schemes, and the olive green one is really ugly, but the default blue scheme is pleasing. You can modify the schemes the way you could in ME. So, for the money, I feel that I've gotten a significant upgrade in terms of stability, speed, memory usage, and general ease-of-use. Oh, and the dreaded activation took about 30 seconds.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty for an MS first release
Review: For a Microsoft first release this not bad as far the operation itself goes, however (and there is always howevers with MS) I would recommend that you check your hardware and peripherals for upgraded drivers to XP first before I install it. A lot of older equipment will have problems, such as might not work, and if they are very old they may not even have updated drivers available. I found my DVD, canner and scanner as well my Zip drive were all unrecognized. So check the report that XP gives you before you upgrade. I know my brother had problems with both his sound and video card so he had to upgrade. I do like this a lot better than ME. Its design is smoother running and loads quicker and I don't see any conflicts so far between XP and other software packages. Also the I.E. 6 is very sharp and operates a little more smoothly with XP than I.E. 5.5 did with ME, at least that was my experience with ME, a lot of freezeups. One other thing I would recommend, when you download to XP give yourself time roam around and get used to it. This OS is a lot different as far as organization and setup goes from all other windows setups, but like I said its more commonsense I think and more visually appealing, you should enjoy the change. I don't know about the waiting for price drop, remember Win 98 stayed this price for quite some time and ME and 2000 didn't really drop until they got close to XP, so I wouldn't let price scare me off it could be a long wait. But if you are happy with your current OS and don't feel a need to upgrade right away then why not give it a shot and wait. Hope this helps and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great Product; Easy to Install
Review: I was a little nervous about the upgrade -- I always seem to have trouble with big installs (network card, DSL, wireless) and was concerned this would be another one. No such trouble --the install was very easy and I have a 2.5 year old Windows 98 Dell desktop. No tough decisions -- just follow the prompts, let the PC chug (it takes a while), and it's done and you're up and running. For novice PC users, Windows XP is a must. Everything is simpler; you'll get more from your PC. For power users, it's a must too. You'll love the new look, the flexibility, the ease of netowkring, etc.
Rating:
Summary: A Nightmare
Review: If the operating software you're currently using is reasonably stable, don't bother buying the upgrade. I did and I'm regretting it in spades! I have a Dell computer that's running Win 98 SE on a Pentium III, 128 Meg of RAM and a 30-gig hard-drive. (It's only a year-and-a-half old.) I've called Microsoft tech support, spent hours on hold (a toll call) and been cut off twice. The installation is caught in some kind of an infinite loop, and my machine is now useless. I may have to remove the hard-drive and have it reformatted. This product may be OK if you buy it pre-installed on a new computer, but don't bother buying the upgrade. It's too risky.
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