(the best) Windows eXPerience (yet) (Microsoft Windows XP (Whistler))

Member Name: taylorsr

Product:	Microsoft Windows XP (Whistler)
Date:	24/10/01 (579 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rock-solid, The usability of 9x with the stability of 2000, Noticable improvement in performance

Disadvantages: OpenGL support, or rather, the lack of it, Drivers for certain hardware, Remote assistance a potential security problem.

I have been using so called PC's from way back when, (OK, PC Dos 3.2 on an 8086) and have had most versions of Windows. 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, NT 3.52, 95, NT 4.0, 98, 98SE, 2000 Pro and Server (trial version) 2000 Pro (retail version) ME and now XP, and I have decided that this really is the best Windows yet.

'But why?' I here you ask. Well, if you're sitting comfortably, I'll begin. (If you want just the opinion on XP, skip the next paragraph. It's just a trip down memory lane.)

Back when the Windows shell ran atop of DOS, unstability was a problem. Programs could interfere with each other, and before you knew it, your system would crash. 95 improved on this, by making DOS, (Version 7) part of Windows. Windows 95 OSR1 was sleek, small, and elegant. And it ran on my 486, with ease. Win95 OSR2 introduced USB support right before Win98 was launched. I still use 95 OSR2.5 on my one of my systems. This is because of the stability of the system. Nearly every piece of hardware was supported by their manufacturer, and it worked a treat. 98. Hmm, what a disaster that was. It took me three goes to install it I think. (My system then was a Cyrix 133 MHz P166, with 32MB RAM and a 3.2 gig hard drive) And within a month I had gone back to 95 OSR2.5. In retrospect, the fact that I was only running fat 16 with the drive partioned in 2 might have had something to do with it. 98SE was much better, but when my system got ugly, Windows got worse. 2000 pro was a God send. Finally an OS that didn't crash. But did it run games? Only some. and pathetically at that. 2000 sever was even more stable, but more restrictive in what it could / could not do. ME is pathetic, and although being far more stable than 98SE, still has some inherrant 9x problems. Networks, for example are a bind to get working. So, what about XP? Read on and you'll find out. I hope.

I have Windows XP Professional running on my PC
, (I have had it since RC1, as I subsribed to the final testing / preview scheme) and I think it is wonderful. I have had 1 stability problem since I installed the final release, and that was only because I tried to print out a very large picture (68.something megs, printer size) and XP tried to resize my swapfile. It would have probably continued working, had I given up and hit reset. The latest start menu offering is at first annoying. This is because it only shows the programs one uses most, and everthing else is hidden until you want it. The new colour scheme, (Green and Blue) is a little shocking, and I prefer to switch the display theme to 'classic' Hardware installations are a breeze, provided that XP has it's own drivers, or you can get hold of XP or 2000 drivers for it. There are manufacturers out there who haven't got suitable drivers, Guillemot - for example - doesn't support its ISIS soundcard, and probably most of its other products, though hopefully this will change in the very near future. Open GL is another problem, especially for Quake III junkies. I don't have that problem, I am a UT junky. At the moment, there is no OpenGL support for any of the video devices, as far as I am aware, certainly not for the GeForce 2 Ultra graphics card that a friend of mine has. Other than those problems, I have not had any trouble with it. It works a treat on my laptop, and I have noticed a slight extension in the run time I get from it when on batteries. This may of course just be the batteries reaching peak cycle performance, but I don't know. Microsoft has removed Java support from IE 6, but you can still install it from their site. Restarts are a thing of the past. I updated my Windows settings, and installed new drivers without restarting. 640x480 res is also gone. It's new minimum (on my laptop) is 800x600, which just shows how far technology has advanced. Did I meantion that networking is a dream. Windows a
lso comes with a built in firewall, but I still would prefer a third party one, as the windows one is, umm, crap! I haven't done a burn-test on XP yet, (Where I force it to run umpteen processor intensive programs at the same time, for a long time) but I should imagine that it will stand up to the test pretty well. Games run well also, provided they use the DirectX method of graphical display. FS2000 frame rates are up by a good 5, which sometimes can make the difference between landing and crashing your aeroplane. The new feature 'remote assistance' is great for helping friends out of sticky situations with your computer, but could, potentially be used as a back door into your PC. The 3 gig installation is a little annoying if you only have a 5 gig hard drive but worth it.

All in all, I feel that Microsoft really have pulled themselves together to make a rock-solid OS that is usable by everyone, except Quake III players, but this should change soon. For me this means finally no more dual booting ME / 2k Pro, as one OS does it all. Well done Microsoft.

It is however, expensive
Clean install Home Edition - £163.32
Clean install Pro Edition - £233.82
Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade from 98/ME ONLY - £81.07
Windows XP Pro Edition Upgrade - £158.62

Summary: