Average Rating: 
Rating: - Awesome Operating System
I have gone through every single operating system (for home) and also through 2000, and this is the best one yet. As soon as I heard that the first 1,000 people to sign up for the RC versions would get a free copy of the beta, I immediately put my hands on the offer. Microsoft improved it dramatically from Beta to Final Version. Then on RC2, it only lasted 30 days(even though I activated it) so I complained to Microsoft and they sent me the full version for free. I don't get why people complain about Microsoft if they were nice enough to do that. Well anyways, I installed XP Pro the first day I got it, and I was amazed by it. It only took me about 1 hour 15 minutes.
My specs for comparison:
800 mHZ PIII w/ Speedstep
20 gig hard-drive
128 MB Ram
15" TFT XGA Active Matrix
I runs alot faster than the Windows Me I had on here which is great. Boots up a lot more faster also(except for the amount of time required to type in your password). Desktop is nice and full, but I recommend that you have 1024 X 768 for best resolution on XP. The start menu is also very nice and I don't have to search though all my programs to look for the one I want, all I have to do is open the start menu and my most frequently used programs are there. Another nice and overlooked feature is the hide feature on your taskbar. This is so you don't have a huge line of icons on it, but only the ones you want. Also when a program wants to tell you something, the taskbar just flips up. This is good because if you have your volume on mute (for example) and you have AIM on, it tells you if you have a new instant message. Also if you have a lot of programs open, the taskbar clusters them into groups for you so it doesn't get so cluttered. Over all this is a nice operating system, but there are the problems such as you can't not have an automatic log-on in the beginning and it takes a little longer to shut down. Also sometimes when I open Compuserve, it does this network configuration thing that takes a little time to complete. But otherwise this is a good, solid operating system.
Rating:  - Got to give credit to Micro$oft
Finally, what PC enthusiasts and power users have been waiting
for - an OS that delivers. For once, Micro$oft delivered a product that holds what they
have claimed it to be - a revolution. Despite what people has said about Windows 95, the reality is,
it fell short of what an OS should be like - relatively few
bugs, stable, secure, and ease of use. Win 95 only has half of
one of the above (ease of use); whereas Linux falls short on
ease of use (people are working on it) and a more narrow
commercial soft/hardware base. Windows 2000 was really close except it was much tilted towards
work rather than play. Now Windows XP Pro finally gives what
every power users want: perfect work + play balance. Games run fine and fast (w/ appropriate drivers) on Win XP;
sound and music are fully supported, and the proven NT kernel
was stabler than ever for a PC OS. Users who desire a stable and secure (with some option
tweaking) mutiuser, multitasking platform would adore this OS.
The EFS (encrypted file system, under NTFS partition), active
directory, kerberos, and a simple personal firewall(!) provides
a secure working environment. Users who wish the best
perfomance with their games and full plug & play support for
joysticks, etc. would also find this OS compelling - the
compatibility mode which enables programs to run under older
version of Windows will keep most older games happy. Users who
needed all that AND needs to work with multinational programs
would benefit from the integrated language pack which gives
decent support for reading, and inputing multiple languages in
all windows programs (including menu boxes and text windows).
The newly face-lifted interface is quite pleasing while still
keeping its functionality from the previous windows version
(seriously, if you don't like the UI, maybe you should consider
using other versions of OS on your PC and forget about the goodies I just mentioned). What is perhaps more interesting is the highly integrated
functions within the OS. It is definitely a very deep love-it-
or-hate-it relationship with Windows Media Player (which plays
DVD now), MSN messenger, integrated CD Burning, and WIndows
movie maker. Personally I have iced all of these applications
up by deleting their shortcuts, disabling them, or
disassociating them from certain files; you just have to tweak
around them if you believe they are annoying (but maybe not to
your wife or kids who holds a seperate account and knows
little). Ah.... and perhaps the good old product activation you have all
heard of - it's really not much of a hassle. It's just sending
a hashed (the fancy computer geeky term for randomizing a
number) key from the CD-Key to get an ID from M$ to make the OS
useable, nothing much. YOU DON"T HAVE TO REGISTER AND GIVE ANY
PERSONAL INFO TO M$. (I did not register) It is definitely not
a hassle to reactivate if it happens (it's just a phone call).
All this just means that every user should be aware of what can
be done under the license agreement. Windows XP Pro is very good if: 1) You need to have a stable,
relatively secure working PC environment that can also act as a
gaming platform. 2) You are worried about being hacked and
want some sort of protection when connected to the net. 3) You
need to work with multinational language based programs and
need to input foreign languages. Stay away from Windows XP if: 1) You disdain Micro$oft in their
business approach. 2) You tend to "backup" M$ software around
and "lend" it to people you know. 3) You dislike OS that COULD
contain bugs and that makes you very uncomfortable. 4) You do
not like the interface of Windows and believe it is inferior
and non ergonomical. The bottom line is, for a PC OS, Windows XP Pro deserves a 5-
star because the PC world is finally getting a highly complete OS after about roughly 15 years.
Rating: - Way better than 95,98,ME, and 2000!
Even though I am using Windows XP Professional RC1, I find XP to be a more stable and easier to use operating system than Windows 95,98, and ME. I was really impressed with the ease of installation because I did not have to install any drivers for the hardware I had since most of it was set up automatically. In fact, my Soundblaster Live 5.1 X-Gamer sound card was set up during the installation of XP and my Iomega 100MB USB Zip Drive was set up in 10 seconds! I also noticed that some hardware(such as my HP DeskJet 712C) that did not work in Windows 2000 did work on Windows XP. Setting up my internet connection(through cable modem) was a breeze and I have not had a system crash yet. The integrated CD Burning Wizard makes creating CDs as easy as copying and pasting files. The newly redesigned start menu saves time locating the programs you use most frequently. The reason why I haven't given it 5/5 stars is because some of the applications(such as Office 2000) seem to run a little bit slower on XP than they did under previous versions of windows. Another reason I did not give it 5 stars is because the DVD movies I played on my computer had choppy looking graphics(I'm sure I'll be able to see better quality video once the final release comes out along w/better decoding software). If you have any version of windows prior to 2000, I would strongly recommend purchasing Windows XP Professional and have about 256MB of RAM(I have a Pentium III 800 w/512MB of RAM). If you are still running Windows 2000, you may want to stick with it if product activation bothers you.
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