1.5 gigs & not much new in the way of features. It comes with some new software that I already own two or three versions of. So I don’t think that Im going to buy it. However, sometimes the stores have specials if you buy it. I got a whole bunch of hardware, that came free after rebate, if your bought Me, worth far more than Me Update itself.
Already did. Microsoft had a trial where you could get it for 10 bucks or so. dont know if you still can, but its worth it to try out. Of course, in my lie of work, I need to stay on top of new stuff. I kinda liked it, but I havent had time to play with it much.
I see no reason to upgrade to WinXP. Heck, I haven’t seen a compelling reason to upgrade past Win98SE!
I’ve heard lots of rumblings about the various “control” issues implemented by MS in XP, such as the product-activation technology, or Microsoft acting as a central repository for all hardware drivers and subsequently deciding for the user when/if to upgrade drivers. I have no idea to what extent the latter is true, but the former seems to be annoying quite a few folks.
YES.
I’m using XP Pro Corporate Final right now, and I absolutely love it. A lot of it is eye-candy stuff, but it does have a lot of cool features that I really, really like. Multimedia files play nice and smooth too. I don’t exactly have a cutting-edge system either - it’s a two-year-old dual-Celeron 500 rig - and it runs great on it.
Darwin’s Finch: If you get the opportunity and have the inkling, try to give Windows2000 a spin. It’s TONS more stable than Win98SE.
The corporate edition does NOT have the software/hardware verification checks that the home version does. Now they are really asking us to buy a copy for each machine. Oh brother.
I see that a free unauthorized copy of XP is already all over the web. I’m sure that a lot of users will be reporting on it’s merits and shortcomings soon. So far most of the buzz is that it’s the most stable platform Microsoft has issued, one guy told me he was trying to get the blue screen of death and couldn’t. I’ll probably buy it, just because.
I’ll probably buy a new PC at home pretty soon, and I will put XP on it. The main things I care about:
-
It’s supposed to be more stable, since it’s based on the NT core. Which I’m a little skeptical about, since I used NT/Win2000 at work and that gets flakey sometimes.
-
I play a lot of games , and apparently there’s been a lot of effort to make sure the later games and hardware are compatible. I’ve also heard there’s a “Win98 compatibility mode” or something to help.
I’ve been using XP since it’s more primitive form Beta 2. Upgraded to RC1, and then upgraded that to RC2, which I’m currently running.
I much prefer XP over Win98 and 2000. It is infinitely more stable than 98, and very much more compatible than 2000.
The icons and interface are kinda cartoony, but since XP incorporates XML throughout the OS, it’s supposedly very easy to customize how everything appears.
Fortunately, I don’t need to buy it until the 180-day license for XP RC2 expires, which gives me the time I need to earn money. Also, I can probably get a decent student discount as well.
And I, too, will probably use my brother’s sources of power (bwaha!) to buy XP at a discount.
1.5 gigs of hard drive space is nothing. Hell, I’ve got a total of 5 gigs devoted just to my OS drive (my HD is partitioned into two parts… an OS drive and a, well, everything else drive). So space isn’t an issue. Nor is the rest of my system.
Further, one thing that I’ve noticed about XP… it’s just about managed to cure the infamous “Windows Rot”. We’ve been putting that copy of XP through hell for the past several months, and it’s still running smoothly and perfectly.
Just make sure you get the Professional Edition. It’s worth the extra hundred bucks.