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Dan Albrich
dalbrich@oregon.uoregon.edu
Windows XP starting shipping on new computers in late September and was officially
released in late October. This new version of Windows combines Microsoft's consumer
and business operating system versions into one core Windows product. The prior
consumer versions of Windows, which were made for home use, include Windows
95, 98, and ME. The prior business versions of Windows include NT and
2000.
Some of us remember the "Designed for Windows 95" logos on software
from the past. This logo often meant the same program would not run on Windows
NT. What made this distinction even more difficult is that many "Designed
for Windows 95" programs actually would work just fine under NT, but ultimately
you'd have to install the product to know for sure.
Such confusion is now eliminated, as Windows XP will essentially be the same
product for both business and home users. While bundled software and some capabilities
will vary between the Professional edition (which is aimed at business users)
and the Home edition, these are largely marketing decisions and not technical
limitations. The advantage of the unified XP version of Windows is that software
designed for XP should work equally well on either the Professional Edition
or the Home Edition unless it was specifically designed not to work on both.
The big "gotchas" with Windows XP --activation, .NET passport
requirement for some services, lack of password requirements, and hardware compatibility
issues--are summarized below:
Activation. The most controversial aspect of the new Windows version
is a requirement called activation. Activation is designed to stop software
theft. The "off the shelf" copies of Windows XP all require activation,
either over the Internet or by calling Microsoft. If users wish to install the
product on a different PC later on (i.e., move the license) or if they make
too many changes to their hardware configuration, they are also required to
call Microsoft.
Departments ordering with a purchase order can avoid activation completely
by purchasing the XP product through OETC (http://www.oetc.org)
or the UO Bookstore. OETC can order individual copies, whereas the Bookstore
requires an order of five copies or more.
.NET Passport. MSN Instant Messenger, included with Windows XP, now
requires users to sign up for a .NET passport. This is a single username and
password that enables logins to multiple web sites. While Microsoft promotes
this as a convenience, we recommend extreme caution when putting personal information
into any website or service, and especially those that store financial information
about you (see "Beware Passport
Perils" on page 7, column 3). For this and other security related reasons
beyond the scope of this article, we simply recommend you avoid using any service
that requires your personal information-- including MSN Instant Messenger, .NET,
the Microsoft Wallet, etc.
No Password Requirements. By default, Windows XP does not require passwords
for login. We recommend users assign a password using the "User Accounts"
control panel after their initial login. In fact, this is required for users
who wish to log in on Windows servers.
Hardware Compatibility Issues. Windows XP requires a special piece of
software called a "driver" to communicate with hardware devices like
the video card, hard disk, and other computer components. Drivers made for Windows
2000 might work on Windows XP, but often will not. In addition, new operating
systems almost always require additional memory and hard disk space and XP is
no different.
The cost of upgrading these components in an older PC to accommodate
the new version of Windows is generally not worth the cost, given that prices
for brand-new PCs have come down. If you particularly want to run Windows XP,
we recommend purchasing a new computer with that operating system pre-installed.
This should avoid any hardware compatibility issues.
If you have a modern PC with fast processor and more than average RAM and disk
space, then upgrading to XP may be a reasonable option. Should you decide to
upgrade an existing PC, make sure you have important data backed up before you
begin. You should also verify that drivers designed for XP exist for your video
card and other components like your printer, scanner, or digital camera if you
have these.
In short, if you're happy running an earlier version of Windows like 98, ME,
or 2000, we don't recommend upgrading. If you need a new computer anyway, you
will likely get XP pre-installed in any PC you buy, so you should not have any
hardware compatibility problems.
After trying XP out for ourselves, here are some improvements we noticed:
In addition to all the features included with the home edition, Windows XP
Pro also offers:
Campus users may require the professional version for several reasons, but most importantly if they need to log in to Windows based servers.
Here are some additioonal references to help you evaluate Windows XP: