Some of what Billy G. and Co. have done to try and destroy advances in software design and computing freedom I can actually understand.

Read some of the reviews here in Eopinions and other media venues and it is easily seen that for the less than experienced computer user, XP is right for them.

The anguished laments about crashing windows that have now been gloriously either totally eliminated or noticeably reduced demonstrates these are written by relatively neophyte - or at best casual - users that need to be held by the hand throughout their computer experience.

For these folks, requiring all XP compatible programs to be 'approved' by either MS or the paid "Friends of Bill" will keep them from installing every shareware or freeware program they find on a magazine cover disk or through the 'net as their sloppy computing habits and lack of understanding is what gets them into trouble in the first place.

You know the ones, their computer crashes daily and they don't know why but it couldn't be their error - it must be a fault with Win98! The ones that don't realize that it is just a machine and needs to treated like one and should only be handled by those with some - even a little - training. If you don't know what you're doing, leave it to someone who does and most problems will stop.

I can't remember off-hand the last time my Win98 system crashed and I use it for hours every day - but then again I don't go through a daily dance of install/delete/install.

I have much higher quality software than anything MS can produce - CD/RW software, music compiler, the best Firewall on the market, and others - all stellar in comparison to the 'Sub-Lite' additions to XP.

I enjoy being able to take things apart and I am happy learning about computers as I have been doing since Win 3.1.

I have Win XP Pro on my office computer and it is BORRRING! It essentially just sits there and while it will do what it is told to do, there is no pleasure in using it.

Pretty? Hey, Bill, give ME the freedom to decide when and what system component to change and what software is on MY computer and I will make my computer pretty.

Stable? Give ME the option to decide which of your bloated yet light on features bundled programs to not install on MY computer and it will be stable.

"Better than bread - Harrumph!!" Not hardly if you are into specific computer related tasks or need to do some major "behind the scenes" tweaking so your computer runs better than Billy G. intended.

Stops Piracy? Not a chance. Whether it is Bulgaria - the largest computer piracy center in Europe or Taiwan - the largest computer piracy center in Asia, there are already - and have been for some time - 'fixed' versions of both XP Home and Pro. You want to stop Piracy - do it the smart way, lower the price to reflect the value of the program.

Let's see, Zone Alarm is probably the best firewall on the market and it's FREE! It makes the joke in XP exactly that.

Your music program which is so infantile it can only handle your in-house designed codec - you should pay users to accept.

The CD/W software is so lame I wouldn't want to use to try and make a CD of pictures of my sister's garden - let alone anything of great value (sorry Sis). WinXP Home should be around $30 and maybe $40 for Pro. That would be more effective in stopping piracy than the Product Activation idea you stole from the Shareware community and try to call yours.

Maybe after Service Release 4 or 5 and Essential Update #5,893 - when install options are added, the draconian control over which software is allowed has been removed, the well-deserved cancellation of Product Activation happens so I don't have to ask for permission to use my computer (or Billy G. pays the long-distance charges from Asia), IE7 comes out and little Billy stops pouting about Sun and adds Java support, - then, maybe, I will consider accepting the FREE and legitimate and still shrink-wrapped copy of XP Pro my company bought for me.

Until then I will continue to enjoy the freedom of doing 98% of what I do now with the software and OS of my choice - Win98 - well-tweaked, capable, stable and 'Pretty' and supported by software developers around the world with programs that Bill and Co. can only get by buying out the creative companies.



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