deciding to go with XP

[bookouri]

We havnt had any exposure to XP yet. We have stayed away from it specifically because of the registration requirements. We have two locations with 200 to 300 pcs and about 400 total users. We depend exclusively on Ghosting our workstations. We rebuild and replace parts all the time. All of our machines came from the vendor with a Windows operating system installed. We usually buy in batches of 20 to 50 identical machines so we can run our entire organization with a half dozen ghost images to pull from. We never try to "fix" or reinstall software, we just grab the bad machine and re-ghost it.

Is it possible to work XP into this kind of environment? How does XP fit into large organizations with lots of pcs and users? Ive read all the "articles" but Id like to hear from people in the real world who are having to deal with the same problems... In a few weeks we have 40 to 50 new machines to order and we have to decide if its time to start getting into XP. Ive heard good things from people using XP, but these are individual users, not IT people trying to work it into the mainstream pc inventory..

thanks for any comments/suggestions

 

[rjkrash]

I'd say it would be possible and desirable to switch to XP.
Especially if you are an ME or 9x site now.

Be aware you must buy/license Win XP Pro if your users are networked (as I assume they are). Win XP home won't work in a domain.

MS has a way to purchase a corporate license which allows the enterprise to avoid the activation stuff all together even if you change hardware all the time. See:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/piracy/volumelicensingfaq.asp

And I know that Norton has an upgraded for XP Ghost. See:

http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?productID=3

If you are buying 50 PCs from a single source they should be able to work with you regarding the activation issues as well since they have licenses from MS that allow their customers to not have to activate. They should be able to ship w/o an OS and thus lower the price a bit or load OS configs as you like them. The two rules for success are:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

 

[malepipe]

Although I dont work in the IT dept at work, I am very good friends with the Sys Admin.He claims (if I understand this correctly AND I MAY NOT!!) that the licensing issue, in regards to XP and an office enviroment is one GIANT pain in the tookus!!
We have 50 licenses,lets say for arguements sake 23 of which are installed on the office machines leaving 27.To connect these machines to the server requires ANOTHER 23 licenses. Now you only have 4 left!!He told me this was the only way the server(or client) Im not sure which, would allow the network to connect.In essence you suck up two of your licenses,for each machine, just connecting to the network.He also claims MS would not even discuss this with him unless he used the PAY PER INCIDENT method, resolved or not.
He was BS and not too impressed to say the least.
I'm not aying this is gospel and I may well have misunderstood him but if this is true it's a major porking.
You may want to investigate this further before the switch
Jimi_l(AKA Malepipe)

 

[bookouri]

microsoft has always been good about that sort of thing. Im thinking he's talking about the fact that even though you have an operating system license for a pc you still have to have a "client" license for the server to allow the pc to connect.. and even then they have two different ways of licensing the server clients... you would have to have a full MCSE course on licensing just to ever figure it out...