Background
I used to use Windows 98 at home, I am a Software Developer and so I consider myself to be a bit of a power user. Windows 98, just wasn't good enough for me. I spent more time rebooting my computer and fixing badly behaved problems than working. At work I use Windows 2000. This is a great OS, which hasn't crashed on me in the year I have been using it, and I am the sort of person who installs every program they see.

I don't spend a great deal of money on software, but I decided XP was worth the money. After all you can spend over £50 easily on special purpose software like CD-Writing software, so £80 on the operating system seemed quite cheap to me.

Upgrading
My computer is nearly 3 years old. A PII-350. I have a 20gig hard-drive, and 192MB of memory. I have an 8mb ATI Rage Pro graphics card. I would expect that a reasonable graphics card would be an important consideration, because Windows XP uses lots of animation and transparency effects. This spec is towards the bottom end of Microsoft's published requirements, but I have had surprisingly little trouble.
I bought the upgrade version, which also allows you to do a fresh install as long as you have the original CD for the previous operating system (98 or ME).

I expected hardware compatibility problems, but things went very smoothly. The only piece of hardware that was incompatible was my Samsung SmartJet multifunction printer. Unfortunately it looks like drivers will never be written for this obselete (but excellent) printer, so to use it I will have to dual boot into Windows 98, this is very easy to do however if you have installed XP properly, but it is an inconvenience.

Installation takes about an hour. I installed from fresh, by reinstalling 98 on a small partition on my harddrive as drive C, and then installing XP onto my D drive. This allows me to boot into 98 if necessary, but other than to use my printer this is highly unlikely to be necessary. XP offers excellent compatibility with older software. Unlike ME it allows you to make DOS boot floppies too, although if you convert to NTFS then these won't be very useful.

Windows XP offers a choice of filesystems. FAT32 is recomended if you want the drive to be readable from DOS, Windows 9x and ME. NTFS is the prefered filesystem. It is more reliable, it can automatically fix problems caused by power failiures without tediously running scandisk, and it offers security so that you can protect your files from other users on your computer. You can safely convert from FAT32 (which Windows 9x and ME used), to NTFS, but the process can't be reversed so I would recomend installing as FAT32 at first in case you have any problems and need to uninstall.

User interface

The XP user interface has been redesigned quite dramatically. It isn't hard for previous Windows users to get used to it though. It mainly adds to the existing user interface, so for instance although it is easiest to create a new folder by using the new task panes, you can also do it the old way by right clicking on the windows and choosing New...Folder.

The new start menu isn't particularly interesting. It dynamically presents you with your most used applications. It is one of my least favourite features of the operating system however. It just seems to add an extra step to accessing your programs. Luckilly you can revert to the old Windows 9x style start menu if you prefer it. You can even go as far as reverting to the 9x style look and feel, which will bring back the old grey start menu, and grey 3d buttons in all of your applications rather than the new blue XP style UI.

The new UI is very attractive. It even makes web pages look better due to the redesigned controls and buttons. It does a lot of animation which is actually very useful as well as attractive. There is no more wondering which taskbar button is which after closing a program, because you see them all slide along. The taskbar also groups multiple windows from the same application when the task bar gets cluttered, this is a good alternative to having lots of centimeter wide buttons.

The notification area (next to the clock), has also been improved. Microsofts original intention was that this area would be used to notify the user of important events, but because many applications use it unwisely it had become rather useless. Windows XP will automatically hide any static icons which also saves space on your taskbar.

If you are thinking that some of these features aren't to your liking, then the good news is that you can probably turn them off. Windows XP is very configurable, especially if you obtain the free Powertoys accessory from Microsoft.

XP has some customised views for different types of files. By default your My Music folder will have a music theme applied to it. This will show all of your MP3 albums as thumbnails of the album covers if you set it up correctly. Media Player 8 integrates well with Explorer, and it is a good application. Media Player 7 had a bad reputation for being sluggish, but Media Player 8 is reasonable fast and quite capable, although it doesn't support MP3 ripping without a commercial plug-in. It can however burn CDs, but you would probably be better with some more capable software for this.

XP supports simple CD writing. It allows you to drag and drop files to a CD-R drive, which it will queue up until you are ready to burn them. It is a no frills aproach, but I quite like it. It creates standard multisession disks which have advantages over propper direct access cd writing software such as DirectCD.

Multiple users
If you have a family, then XP's multiple user support is nice. It lets you configure multiple users, each with there own picture on the welcome menu. There is no complicated usernames to remember, and passwords are optional. This is a great step on from 98's multiple user support which was pretty terrible. If you use NTFS, you can even prevent sneaky family members from accessing your files.

The main advantage XP has here, is that multiple users can be logged in at the same time. Pressing WinKey L, will lock your session and return you to the welcome screen. From here another user can log in without affecting your work, and you can switch back when they are finished. This is fast enough to be worth using.

A related feature is hibernation. Although probably aimed more at laptop users, hibernation allows compatible computers to shutdown, without requiring you to log off. The computer will be switched completely off, and yet when you switch it back on, hibernation will start back where you left off. All your windows will be open how you left them, you needn't even save your work.

Hibernation has been present on previous versions of Windows, but this is the first time I have seen it work, and I like it.

Home vs. Pro
You will need to decide which version you require. The Pro edition is necessary if you need to be part of an NT domain, have two-processors, or want better control of security.

Remember that the Home edition is basically a slightly cut down version of the Pro edition. The differences are minor, and you are still buying the same reliable operating system.

Most users will be quite happy with the home edition, but I recomend that you check before you decide which version you require.

Conclusion

There are lots of other things worth mentioning, but why bother. If you are running 9x, you WILL be upgrading sometime, just make sure that your hardware is capable however to avoid disapointment.

It amazes me that XP is obviously much more secure and complex than 98, and yet it is faster.

Microsoft has done a great job with XP. Previously companies have been quick to change applications just to make them "look diferent" without adding any benefits to the user. This time it is obvious that a lot of attention has been spent on listening to customer comments.


daveP.

Recommended: Yes