XP or W2K? ... Picking the Best Upgrade from W98? 2

[MiklK]

For some reason I have begun to think it's just Time For A Change in OS. ...(Could it be the spontenaeity and charm of my Win98's crashes? Spring coming? [nope!].. Microsoft's XP advertising?)...
But I'm having trouble deciding between W2K and XP. I've been hearing a groundswell of unhappiness about the ritual of registration with XP, and prickly annoyance at some of its other features. And - partly as a result of people wanting something-not-XP - there is a FIERCE bidding war on eBay, etc., for MS Windows 2000 software. Doesn't seem like people were fightin over THEM a couple years ago! And maybe as the next OS rolls out, most everyone will have become thrilled with XP and want nothing to do with XP+++.

Anyway, I would love some advice/opinion to help me think about choice. So
How did you make YOUR choice? Were there/are there features on one and not the other which turned your opnion strongly?

My system is AMD K6 2 at 350 with 196 RAM and HardDrive about 6 - "technically", mechanically, i could adequately run either OS. Or so they say...

Thx (a LOT) to anyone for helping
mikl
bigpygme@earthlink.net

 

[paulcussen]

the main difference between XP Pro & Home is that XP Pro supports Domains and has a feature called remote desktop (basically a watered down version of PC Anywhere). I choose XP Pro, as I may want it in the future, but XP home should do most, unless they see a need for Domain support in the future. With regard to "Registering" XP, NO, you don't, registration is optional, activation, however, is MANDATORY (unless you get a cracked version). All this means is that you can't install the same OS/license on multiple systems. Having tried Win2k & XP Pro/Home, I would definately recommend XP Pro/Home over Win2k.

Hope this helps,
Paul.

 

[MiklK]

thx paul, that's exactly the experience and comparison i'm hoping for (although, any other issues anyone sees need to raise are good to hear about as well)
mikl
bigpygme@earthlink.net

 

[Guest_imported]

~if you want stability, win2k;
~if you want interesting, fancy but useless effects, winxp;
~if you want to work, win2k;
~if you want to play, winxp;
~~if you're brave, try a decent hard disk with xp, 2k, and linux on it;
apart from that, i think win2000 will stay around for a bit and if you possibly want a decent job in the next couple of years, it's a good option, compared to xp which i think is not bound to stay around, or at least stay in the same shape for very long...

 

[MiklK]

thx dude -

Dammit, i just KNEW that sooner or later it would come down to brave!
<smile>
I mean, i was AFRAID that it would!! <gulp> ... <grin>

But actually i am pretty sure i'm not, in fact, brave enough - yet - to launch off, out into Linux-land. Wow, load em all three together - kinda like Software Survivor, huh?
Thx for th inof and comparisons, seriously, this is helpful.
mikl
bigpygme@earthlink.net

 

[dilettante]

Well, MS says:

&quot;Windows XP Professional is the next version of Windows 2000 Professional that provides additional benefits for businesses of all sizes. Customers can easily deploy Windows XP alongside Windows 2000 Professional without major disruption of their infrastructures or additional compatibility requirements.&quot;

So I wouldn't count on Win2KPro &quot;staying around for a bit&quot; compared with WinXP &quot;not bound to stay around.&quot;

XP has a few warts, but few of them are due to its being the next NT (5.1) after Win2K (5.0).

 

[fasttoon]

You want excitement get WinXP, patches, patches, patches, you want the latest, wait, wait, wait, until XP compatible products are released and bug free.(most companies have already released and/or releasing shortly, including patches, patches, patches)

You want stability - Win2K, compatibility - Win2K, proven track record - Win2K.

Having heard from friends about WinME, they call it windows for dummies, from friends with WinXP its better than WinME but still sort of like Win2K for dummies. (I've heard that MS released WinME for 2 reasons, they needed money so they released WinME, they used WinME as a type of beta for WinXP)

Personally I'll stick with win2k for a while longer before I make any changes.

Also having seen WinXP I really like the interface, it seems just as stable as Win2K, there are workarounds for registration and activations (you don't have to do either), the biggest thing going for WinXP over Win2K in my opinion is the restore features, you can rollback the system if something screws up, I'd rather do a backup thru Drive Image or Ghost than have the system do it, however I can really appreciate the efforts MS put into WinXP. Unfortunately for MS, Win2K will probably be my last MS OS that I'll use, unless they really monopolize the OS arena.

Oh, one more thing if you're going the upgrade route, you can only get Home version, the Pro version will not upgrade from Win98, unless you want pay the full price for the full version.

Just check out the users reviews for points of view, also check out this site

http://members.aol.com/axcel216/

and look up all the workaround/issue/fixes for any windows system, it will give you an idea of what you can do with any version of windows including WinXP. (this guy always seems to be ahead of everyone else in finding bugs, workarounds, and tweaks)

Good Luck!! whichever way you go

 

[AlexIT]

For any upgrade don't forget to check that all hardware you have is approved. Try a PCPitStop check to make sure your PC would work with either of them. I have one box that wouldn't upgrade because the &quot;cd-rom bios needs to be updated.&quot; Anyone know how to flash a new cd-rom bios? (Not anymore, I hit Best Buy and blew $11 for a new CD-rom drive...)

Alex

 

[Floyd10]

I have run 2kPro since beta, and XPPro as well. At first I thought XP was retarded. It looked to cartoony, things were moved around and some other annoyances. However, after working with XP for a limited amount of time, I am in love. XP rocks! I personally do not know about XPHome, but after ME, I will probably never touch another &quot;home&quot; edition that MS makes. If you are not ready for the somewhat uncharted, stick with 2kPro. I hope you enjoy whichever decision you make.

 

[MiklK]

THX - you guys are
AWESOME! (A little testy sometimes - oops, i mean opinionated, but AWESOME!)
......OH WAIT -- it was exactly your opnions that i ASKED for and WANTED!! LOL

Thx for the site, fasttoon, i'll check it out.
And i'll try to find PCPitSTOP too, AlexII ... &quot;the Site is OUT there&quot; lol
i did download MS' XP checker, but frankly i thought its feedback was pretty vague is some areas - CYA?
Like the checker questioned whether Norton SystemWorks 2002 would be compatible? I Heard i have to disable it (or even uninstall/reinstall it) but whether it's compatible?? jeesh.

 

[guthead]

Is it too late to recommend OS/2 Warp 4?