Upgrade?

[CTR]

I am currently using Windows 2000 Professional.
Is there a benefit to upgrading to XP?
It looks like both 2000 and XP are built on NT technology (not that that it means anything to me P-) )
If so, do I need professional or can I use the home version, I am not running a business on it.
I heard some rumors, such as if you need to reinstall XP you need to purchase a new copy, is this true?
I have an older PC, 866MhZ, 512 RAM. Is this for me?
Will it run older programs such as Office 2000?
Thanks for the tips. _____________

Cliff

 

[naiku]

It's really up to you whether you want to upgrade or not, if you did decide to upgrade then I would go for XP Pro (I think the home edition has some network components missing, could be wrong though) I am running it on a P3 500MHz with 512MB RAM so you should have no problems with an 866MHz. As far as I know Office 2000 should work fine, along with many other older programs. Of all the things I have installed I have not (yet) had any problems.

The only thing you may have issues with is drivers, I think some of the XP drivers on the Windows CD are a bit flaky. Make sure you download the drivers from the manufacturers website, the rumors about purchasing a new copy each time you install I have never heard those and have reinstalled my copy of XP a few times with no problems. Maybe someone was referring to having to register your copy with MS.

Hope thats of some help

 

[CTR]

Thanks,
Just didn't know if I should spend the extra $100 for prof from the home edition.

I'm having some quirky problems with the PC now. I just rebuilt it using 2000 and it hangs up evry few minutes for about 10 seconds, then continues on without any trouble. I have no idea what is causing this, so I was likely going to rebuild it again. If I did that I didn't know if I wanted to start again with 2000 or move up to XP.

I guess I was curious to see if others thought that XP was worth the $200 upgrade price from 2000 (I may be able to have work buy it ) _____________

Cliff

 

[naiku]

I did not realise it was $100 more, can't remember how much either cost's here in the UK. But if you can get work to buy it then that's the way to go, especially since if work pay for it and you don't like it you have lost nothing

Naiku

 

[tomtrevathan]

You may want to go to the MS site and download evaluation software first, to check to see if your machine and your assorted software will work with XP. Some things don't play nice with XP and some software firms are not updating all of their products for XP, e.g. Polaroid, Studio PCTV, Umax, etc. Some folks are dropping back to Windows 98 because of this.

 

[wolluf]

If you're paying for it yourself, I wouldn't go for the upgrade. I have 2k and XP running on my PC at home and find I just use the 2k installation as there's nothing extra in the XP which I need (just had to spend time finding out how to turn off all the special effects which just slow down machine). Some people think the new interface is more attractive, but that's not something I'd pay $200 (or £140) for! And, you have to find out where everything is again, of course. Can't tell any difference in reliability (both don't go wrong, basically, once set up ok) or performance - XP does boot up a little faster.