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Inserting a nuetral opinion, not a big advocate of anything, just a middle of the roader...

Had to have my PC rebuilt about a year ago on an emergency basis (it suddenly went bonkers). The techs that rebuilt it, strongly reccomended upgrade to XP from 98SE (they saw $$$). With the outta commission PC being my only convenient access to the net and being in a hurry, I had no easy means to check out what was up with XP and for some reason had not heard too much bad about it, so I took the bait - hey, something new, and the techs told me it was a stable OS, which I knew it was NT based and that NT was more stable than 98, ( "no more BSOD's "!). When I went back to pick up the "new" PC, the shop owner inquired as to why the heck I would wanna "downgrade" to XP, saying that he would never reccomended it. So started the "controversy "...

Long story short, after one year, my impartial unbiased impression is that I feel very good about going with XP. It is very stable (not one OS "crash" in over a year), it has some bells and whistles 98 did not, is theoretically more secure (?) than 98, there are (increasingly) a lot of products that are specific to XP only, and ya know I just kinda like the interface a little better (not a lot)... One negative -- I can see where M$ is locking things down a little more with XP and I don't like that...

Overall, I would say it was progress for me, and think I will keep it for the duration based on what I have heard about the next release of Windows OS ( "Longhorn "), maybe even look at implementing a second OS spelled Linux and all the NON WinD'OHs stuff that goes with it to maybe eventually get away from M$'s "big brother" invasion of privacy -- now that is a challenge for an old dog like me, but gives me something to do on "rainy days ", which is about every day down here in crazyville...

Have a good long safe holiday all...

 

That is one thing that I also have to consider. Most new stuff is being designed for XP. As I mentioned before, I need to be READ CAREFULLY before buying.

I also do not care or M$ locking us into certain things.

Things like Outlook Express are now buitlin and may not be able to be removed ( the same as I can in SE ) but at the same time does not have to be actually used.

This is the main reason I am trying to upgrade and become familiar with ( software at least ) that will also work in XP.

For starters. AVG, Kerio and my PowerDesk are all now suitable for XP. And I know Eudora works cause I tried it when I had XP for a few days.

When I went back to pick up the "new" PC, the shop owner inquired as to why the heck I would wanna "downgrade" to XP, saying that he would never reccomended it. So started the "controversy

I got the same basic statement when I went to pickup the parts for my new PC. And just a week or so ago I still got the same.

BillyBob

 

On thing that you will quickly learn with XP, it's customizable.
You don't like the interface, change it. You don't like OE, remove it. (Yes, it's easy to do). You want easy access to certain programs, simple. You want to hide something, easy. You want security, tons. You want reliability, it's there. Don't like error reporting, turn it off. Hate messenger, remove it.
XP comes with much more stuff than 98. It is also easier to rid yourself of what you don't want, than most people think.
It's also easier to get used to some of the features, than rely on other software. XP's built in burning, nice. XP's built in zip files handling, a breeze (and FAST!), compressed folders save space, yet react like normal folders.
There are so many ways to make it do what you want, the way you want it. Once you get used to it's defaults, you'll find that many of them are timesavers, and some are annoyances, but there's always a way to remove the annoyance.

 

A wee bit from me.

I have only had a computer just over 3 years. It came with 98se - I just ' used & accepted it ' Now that I have XP I am eager to learn all about it. There must be something in the XPerience which has given someone like me with very little confidence the NEED to know just why things happen etc

I agree with how easy it is to configure services etc
I also know I have a lot of questions (mFlynn knows this )

This is a post full of answers which I will certainly be referring to.
The debate has been very interesting to watch & 'YES' XP does provide a customisable system - it is just how much you know which it will depend on


As for me I have still a long way to go .......

 

BB - so right. I'm doing a lot of "playing" with XP, but still prefer 98se. And, I have been driving the same Ford for 13 years - even though it does have a Yamaha engine in it. (second one too!)

Regardless, this thread has me rethinking NAV and thats been another long time favorite. I really appreciate all thats been said here.

 

If you have not seen this already take a look please.

More about me and Symantec

BillyBob