Windows XP Professional, In my opinion the best operating system ever developed by Microsoft. Fast, reliable and definitely better than any other Windows.

Compatibility:

I was one of the people who beta tested Windows XP Pro and the version that I used, RC2, was much better than Windows 98SE, ME or 95, 3.1, etc. I found that the major problem was compatibility, but, that even in the beta there was a way around it. Later, when I purchased the retail version I found that installation was easy, if a bit slower than other Windows versions. One nice feature I liked was the option to convert your hard drive file system to NTFS. This made windows even more stable. Another was the ability to, even on full installation, to keep your old files. After installation I began making sure all my hardware was in working order, starting with my SoundBlaster Live! sound card because I had some problems with it in the beta. Well, sure enough Creative and Microsoft hadn't made updated drivers yet, so I had some major problems getting the EAX and such effects to work, but at least I had sound. Later an update was available to fix this and I downloaded it and was pleased to find that it worked. The rest of my hardware was in perfect working order. This included ASUS A7A266 motherboard, AMD Athlon 1.13 Ghz CPU, 3D Prophet II MX 64Mb and a network card connected to an LAN. The next problem was software compatibility. Many commonly used programs like WinZip, and many types of CD Burning software, just didn't work right. Luckily, much of this software has been updated to support XP. The other problem was games. I like games, many people like games, but I hate it when I spend 50 darn dollars on a good game and it doesn't work, don't you? Well, I was rather disappointed at first by some rather expensive games that didn't work, but then I discovered a new option in XP. If you right click on your game icon and click the Compatibility tab you can set a compatibility mode for older Windows versions as well as other nice features. This fixed 99% of my problems, but again there's always an exception, somewhere. Currently I have made some large upgrades and am having no compatibility issues with hardware or software.

Stability:

This new version of Windows is very stable. One thing I hated about all previous windows additions besides 2000 and NT was very common lock-ups. I'm in a game about to beat a level, haven't saved in a while, when all of the sudden the sound starts distorting and my character stops moving. Nothing works... only stillness remains... until I press the power switch and begins cursing Microsoft! But then a new OS showed up, one that didn't have this "common lockup problem" Windows XP. Sure there's still lock-ups, but maybe at most three times a month. That's as much as a Macintosh (sorry Apple, Microsoft actually beat you this time!) "locks-up!" If you have this computer freezing problem and want to solve it no matter the cost BUY WINDOWS XP!

Price:

You will see in my Pros it says "reasonably priced" but, the estimated price is.... WHAT!? $290 that's not reasonable at all! Am I crazy? Am I unreasonably wealthy? No. I just know where to look, I bought my Windows XP Professional OEM, full version for about $150. That, I think is very reasonable for the class of OS that you are buying here.

Bad thing:

Ah! I have two computers and they are both running the unstable Windows 98! What do I do? Upgrade to Windows XP! Yes, I can simply install it on my TWO computers and run them stably. This my friends is not true. If you have actually made it this far through my article you may have realized all the wonderful things about this new Windows, but inside this OS is a curse, a dark side, a dirty trick... PRODUCT ACTIVATION! One copy per computer is all that's legally permitted or even possible! I had two buy ANOTHER Windows for my second PC and again I cursed Microsoft and Bill Gates for is horrific amount of creativity! Yes, it's unavoidable, only 30 days until you must activate then, your computer will no longer start up into Windows, but stop at the Welcome! screen. For multiple computers this is a bad thing.

Back to some good stuff:

Speed:

I was so surprised with how fast Windows XP started up that I decided to time it. Ready? "BEEP" goes the stopwatch and I quickly press the power button on my PC. The milliseconds flash by and I stop the watch as soon as I see my entire desktop... 12.3 seconds! Astounding! Now are my programs faster? Yes, they start faster, run faster, and run more reliably!

"Prettyness":

"It's beautiful!" I said to myself when windows started a nice 3D looking taskbar and a clean desktop with a nice backround. I was surprised and said, "Windows never looked so good!" It was relaxing to the eyes and comforting to the soul. Truly, this was the best Windows Ever!

Recommended: Yes