>>Here is an analysis by an XP user, with both pro and cons, and a complete comparison between the home edition and the pro edition. He recommends the home addition unless.....(teaser! :-).....
>>http://members.shaw.ca/amico/page2.htm
>>
>Informative. He seems pretty well sold on XP.

It seems that way to me, too.


>>
>>My biggest complaints are the spyware, registration wizard and the volume of security holes which require constant attention. IF you don't mind the security (http://www.guninski.com/vv2xp.html for example), the spyware (http://f**kmicrosoft.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml) or the registration wizard, which converts your status to one of 'pirate' if you change more than 3 out of 10 registration parameters, then XP is OK.
>>
>Agreed. I figure if I go XP I'll just have to live with the registration muckety-muck. I'm personally agin it but there's not much to be done on this and I figure it is the harbinger of things to come.

With a vengence.

>
>Only concern here is if I choose for this machine to not have Internet access, how does the registration software respond? I'm womdering if it will just cut you off if it can't contact mama-MS?

You'll have to "phone home" for it. :-)


>
>>If you think XP is more stable than W2K then perhaps this website will help you decide:
>>http://www.bugtoaster.com/dw15/Reports/OperatingSystems.asp
>>
>I actually figured W2K was ultimately more stable, perhaps this will change by SP2 ( or SP8??? :-) )

I can see both of them improving as time goe on. But, another thing to consider is that since Bill G wants everyone to upgrade to XP... I wouldn't expect to see support for W2K (security fixes, bug patches, services packs) continue too long into the future, which probably mandates XP. Did you see that guy's opinion rating XP Home over XP Pro? That wsa interesting.


>
>>Here is a CNET article with some insights:
>>http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/hardware/desktops/0,39001729,38006913,00.htm
>>
>>I also subscribe to Woody's Office Watch (WOW, a pro MS news source) and here are some of his comments in item #2
>>http://www.woodyswatch.com/office/archtemplate.asp?v6-n17
>>which also contains links to a five part article on MS registration wizards, mainly XP Office and XP...
>>JLK
>
>Thanks for taking the time to respond. This is all good information. (sigh) If I was just going to use the home machine for developing, etc. I'd probably go for W2K. But I do like to play games with my son and I figure XP will have better support here over the long haul. We'll see ...

There is abosolutely NO doubt that XP support will far outlive W2K. Also, since LongHorn is two years away, you know that the only 'upgrades' you'll have are service packs, and they should be free.

If I were *stuck* in the W2K world privacy and security would mean nothing, so I'd go directly to XP just to avoid the instabilities of the previous releases and to avoid future upgrade problems. If I were going to be mixed-platform then I would go with W2K and stay with it till Lucifer could go skiing.
JLK