MerC:
Have you used and or installed Windows XP?
If not what is your source(s) of XP knowledge?

jhamilton,
As for waiting, I would get a report from Novel and their beta testers at how XP interacts with it(Novell Network). They have been running it for some time. They (Novell) may NOT release any information until later. If you have a REAL need to upgrade NOW, yes go to Windows 2000, but if not I think one could wait until the end of this year or first of next.

How’s about merging this thread in either the Win XP or Win 2000 forums? It’s from same poster.

Hi Dave

I’ll be frank : I can’t say I particularly like your loaded questions. I haven’t noticed many other posters being questioned on their sources of knowledge. Does it matter how I’ve arrived at my opinions? Or are you suggesting I’m just mouthing off? In which case, you and half a million others would be on the one side, and I’d be more or less alone on the other. Is that the case? I think not.
I’ve never had personal experience of scrofula, but I’m quite prepared to accept medical opinion, and that of its victims, as to what its effects would be on my body. I don’t need to suffer it to know I need to avoid it.

I have a copy of Windows XP RC1 waiting to be installed on my primary system. I want to construct a triple boot environment. However, I first need to back up my current set-up. This is proving more difficult than it should. I have backed-up several times to 4 CD-RWs, but the fourth one (physically a different disc each go) refuses to verify. Until I sort that one out, the XP CD stays in its jewel case. My secondary and tertiary systems are not suitable for experimentation of this type.

I know enough about XP to want to try it. I’m not some sort of cyber Luddite. Just the opposite in fact. If my system breaks, I may cry a little, but my livelihood won’t go down the pan. It might even improve my social life. Our original questioner may not be in a position to take such risks. A corporate environment wants a rock-soild computer base, and whereas there may be no such animal, we can at least present the facts fairly. I don’t feel, in pointing out the potential pitfalls of the XP system that I’ve read about, that I’ve breached the principles of constructive debate.
I don’t think we need a high tech discussion here – but if you want one, hang around until I’ve got it up and running. That’s the point at which first-hand knowledge comes into its own – general issues are a different matter. I keep myself informed via the computer press. I have a subscription to 3 professional magazines, so I feel I get a fair picture of most issues. I use PCs both stand alone and networked every day of the week. I have built systems and installed various Windows flavours on occasions too numerous to remember. I contribute to a variety of more or less technical bulletin boards, in one case as an administrator. I also look to people I’ve learned to trust, such as Steve Gibson. His advice on other versions of Windows has always been red-hot and spot-on. I see no reason to contradict him on the XP Raw Socket and other issues – which is why I quoted him in my last post. There is also the vexed question of Microsoft’s raised profile, a question of cost-effectiveness, and one of field experience. No issue of Windows to date has been adequately tested before being released for sale. (Mind you, if it had, we’d still be waiting for 3.11).

Finally a quote from a well-known author of computer hardware books in answer to a question on his bulletin board : ” As far as I can see, XP is…Windows 2000.1, and all the “enhancements” are things that benefit Microsoft and the music/movie industry to the detriment of users. I certainly won’t ever run it, except on a test-bed system for screen shots and so on for the book.”

All in all I feel I am able to see the position of XP in the overall picture. As things stand, I can’t say I like it.

At this time, I do not feel able to recommend XP either to the corporate environment, nor to any of my clients whose machines I build and sell. Give me Windows 2000 any day[/b]

I’ll stand by that for the time being. You may prefer to differ.
Use your hands-on experience to convince me I’m wrong.

Rgds