If you're ever going to upgrade your windows from 95 or 98 First Edition, this is the time to do it. XP is a huge step in the OS market. Although it's not quite drastic enough to parallel the move from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 as the title of this suggests, it's still a fairly important change from ME or 98SE. The most amazing thing about Windows XP is that it is virtually crash proof. My computer has been through everything from RAM overload to a virus since I've upgraded, and XP has worked through all of it without flinching. Beyond that, programs run more smoothly, the layout is a lot easier to work with, and the added features (such as grouping similar task boxes together on the task bar) take away from a lot of the cluttering that occurs with previous Windows operating systems. Installing new software and hardware has been made a lot easier; hardware is actually usually installed without even requiring the user to do anything. Other than the fact that some drivers, etc. aren't compatible with XP yet, it is flawless. And just as they were when everyone moved from 3.1 to 95, the compatibility problems will be fixed quickly. This is definitely a must buy for anyone who wants to keep up in the computer world. Without it, you'll end up like the sad users who tried to cling to their 3.1.

Recommended: Yes