First I have to say that I didn't appreciate the fact that the operating system was listed in the flier as "a complete operating system" and said to install without a previous operating system present. It was a lie plain and simple...And why in the world wouldn't the gal at the counter even hand it to me until after I had paid for it?
The truth is false advertising works on us suckers that believe that we are getting what we pay for. A couple of days later when i was all set to insist on the program in the paper, I noticed the same flier from a big name computer store online. I guess it wasn't intentional or was it. We uninstalled Windows98 to install this "complete operating system" and got nowhere. It wasn't until we put Windows98 back on that the software started installing.

We upgraded to Windows XP about a month ago. At first we were pleasantly surprised to see that the graphics were out of this world. There is even a cute little dog that will bark at you as you search for things. Animation, pictures; they are out of this world, but....Watch out for things that appear to be wonderful, there is always a downside.

Hardware issues
Mustek EPIII Plus is not compatible

Here I was in the middle of a christmas project before upgrading. I'm making a picture quilt for my grandparents and of course the scanner is a must for the production of the iron on transfers. NOT WITH WINDOWS XP.

The scanner is not compatible and a lot of the other hardware we have needed new drivers or wouldn't work like the scanner. I don't know about you but the idea of replacing hundreds of dollars worth of hardware doesn't really appeal to me. A list of some of the hardware on our system that needed new drivers.
- Iomega zip drive (Driver found at Iomega.com took
an hour to download)
- winmodem (Driver found at microsoft.com)
- Adaptec ReWritable CD ROM (No driver available)
- HP deskjet printer (Driver found at HP.com)

Software issues
Once again... Not compatible. There was a software package I bought not three days before the windows XP and it needs a driver. Unfortunately there isn't one yet. Here was almost one hundred dollars worth of software down the drain. A lot of the games that my husband played on the system were also without new drivers so they've been heaped into the box of unworthy software titles. All together there were probably only a dozen of our programs that would actually work with the Windows XP.
I won't list all the software as not to bore you but here is a list of some of the software titles that were not compatible with the Windows XP operating system.
-Graphics Blaster Extreme (No driver)
-Cosmi's Your Business Pak (NO driver)
-Photo Org (No driver)

Just to name a few. The point. Before they release a new operating system they should update at least some of the important software titles. Or maybe they come up with a universal driver for all software and hardware that would stand the test of time.

I'm not computer WIZ but I do know that when I buy a program days before the operating system I assume that given they are both new...they will both work.

I had a teacher once who used to say never assume anything; it makes an A-- out of U and ME. I guess he was right, because here I sat complaining because nothing would work although as I said to my husband "it is awful pretty".

Okay so I'm sure that the drivers for these programs and the others sitting now in a heap will be released eventually but I for one was pretty upset to know that the Business pak I bought wouldn't be able to help me make charts, business cards, web pages, forms or give me legal advise or do my accounting. It is pretty useless at the moment and I sure am not going to pay for more software in the meantime.

My husband is in love with Windows XP so I am stuck doing anything really important on a laptop computer in the dining room, with my trusty windows 98.

Positive Points About Windows XP
The operating system is a lot more stable than any of it's counterparts. You almost cannot mess it up. If you install hardware or software that isn't compatible, instead of giving you slow programs and a lot of errors of which you wouldn't have a clue the meaning, it simply won't start up and tells you the program has to go. It then gives you an option of trying to figure out which one caused the problems or you can let the computer fix itself. (It will usually reboot you into yesturday) which means you loose any information you've put on there in the meantime but the system doesn't crash.

The animated dog is nice as are the wizzard, computer geek and the other animations you can choose along the way.

The desktop graphics are beautiful and come with the program which is a refreshing sight as opposed to the generic type screens you saw with windows 98 and you also can still put your own pictures up.

The system is very confusing as everything is now in a different place but that eventually you get used to. My biggest problem with this system is the fact that my most important programs/hardware will not work. These things are important enough to me that I will not recommend this operating system to anyone unless they care nothing about the software/hardware or simply are rich enough to replace the stuff they have.

tnt8

Recommended: No