Friends and Family... stop Buying Windows ME
Written: Jun 04 '02 (Updated Jun 04 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Inexpensive; offered support for new hardware, in particular: digital multimedia devices.
Cons: Not backward compatible with some Windows 98 software programs.
The Bottom Line: Windows ME was a marketing invention -- basically, a half-cooked product to fill the gap between Windows 98 and Windows XP.
|
|
|
| 4-1-1's Full Review: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Media Only) ... |
Friends and Family... stop Buying Windows ME. I am tired of being asked for help in fixing your computer problems.
Yep. That's exactly how I feel after being called out a half-dozen times by family members who have been experiencing problems with Windows ME systems they purchased over the past 18 months.
I guess the proper question to ask is this: is there really any reason why anyone should buy Windows ME as their operating system?
Time has passed and technology has changed over the past two years. I evaluated ME in the year 2000 and opted not to buy it. Some family members did (when they bought new computers). In all cases, I've heard complaints ranging from software loading issues (can't load Norton 2000) to hardware driver problems (can run old Okidata LED printer).
Microsoft Corporation has a support feature at its website that identifies software programs that do not perform (or perform improperly) in the Windows ME environment:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;winme
There are many software titles identified by Microsoft as being incompatible with ME. They may work with Windows 95, 98 and NT, but they do not seem compatible with the ME architecture. Some of the more popular releases are:
Adaptec EZ-SCSI 3.1
CuteFTP
Drive Image 3
Norton Utilities
Norton 2000
Norton "Your Eyes Only"
Quicken
Quickbooks v.2.0 and v.3.0
certain Disk Utilities, like Stacker 4.1 and earlier versions
certain Anti-Virus programs
Additionally, there are several peripheral devices that perform oddly with ME from time-to-time and cause General Fault errors to occur. For example: sound cards like Yamaha's DS-XG PCI or ESS-1869, printers like Canon's MultiPASS Multifunction printer, and certain video adapters like Matrox's Video Adapter.
If you are looking to buy a new computer, and are not ready to buy into the new XP operating system, consider your two best alternatives: Windows 2000 Professional (my current OS), or Windows 98, Second Edition.
My recent (June 4, 2002) survey of prices -- for full version releases -- at computers4sure.com and outpost.com (best prices listed):
Windows XP Home Edition - $199.95
Windows XP Home Professional - $299.95
Windows 2000 Professional - $288.95
Windows ME - $179.95
Windows 98 2nd Edition - $193.95
My recommendation: avoid Windows ME. It is not backward compatible with some Windows 98 software programs. Personally, I've been using Windows 2000 Professional for the past year and a half. Although I have experienced some minor compatibility problems, I do find Windows 2000 to perform better than my other machine (running Windows 98, 2nd Edition).
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
4-1-1
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Member: Tom Carr
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 1090
Trusted by: 690 members
About Me:
Go U.S.C.!!!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.