WinXP?

Anyone else upgrade to XP today? I was a beta tester, and had it on a machine at work. I upgraded my home PC for a variety of reasons - but mostly because my Printer and Digital Camera frequently farted out on WinME.

The upgrade was bump-free (other than Norton 2001 quitting on me...) So far I've tested Tribes2 and DAOC, and both work great. Mucho testing and config to do tonite... I look forward to hearing from other early adopters.

I have had it for a while on a dual boot system at home. It was ok....except it took forever to get T2 to work. The update kept bombing out. I also noticed a performance hit in T2. I kept getting weird screen jerks and other strange things. I havent been back to it since. I think there are some new beta Nvidia drivers out there...I might give em a shot and see what happens.

-Goob

Hell no ;)

I'll get XP when I "get a hold" of a version that does not require verification and enabling. Until that time, Win2K will do just fine.

I still use Win98SE for my 'gaming' rig. BTW - I found out a way to cure all BSOD in Windows OS. Really! I hacked the colors to be Green/Black instead of the Blue :D

If my Linux box wasn't so "whimpy" - Celeron 450, Voodoo 3 2000 PCI 16mb card, and 288mb of SDRAM, Id pick up Tribes2 at Loki.

I'm really not anti-MS, etc. I really like Win2K - even for gaming If I chose too. BUT, I have a huge problem with their licensing/registration process and the direction they are heading in. It's like the copyprotection they put on CDs. Seems the latest Sony copyprotection Sierra used on the NASCAR Racing 4 patch is incompatible with certain RAID controllers. Since more people have IDE Raid in their systems now.. that caused a HUGE problem for many people.

Those who really want to get around protection, can and will.

I'm interested in your experiences, Squid. I'm usually not one of the early adopters simply because there are usually so many bugs with the 1.0 version of Microsoft products that it makes life so much easier just to wait for the first couple Service Packs to come out.

I too am a bit leary of the registration process. I'm told that you need to re-register every time you re-install the product (like when your PC shits the bed). I'm also told that configuration changes to your machine, say like an upgrade or new pc, will trigger as a NEW installation which will require for you to pay again for another license.

I'm told the corporate version does not require the registration, only the home version.

I'll wait a while for the bug/hack/problem reports to come pouring in.

No plans on touching it here. I have absolutely no need for the "new" multimedia enhancements since I don't do that stuff on my PC (my TV works just fine for movies and has a way bigger screen, thank you and I still prefer a stereo with a CD, cassette or LP to MP3's).

Plus it is my opinion that this OS is the absolute WORST offender of Bloatware. 1.5 gigs of hard drive space? What the hell is that about?

My final opinion is that the registration stuff is evil. Pure evil. It is the first step to Microsoft implementing their planned subscription basis for OS use. How would you like to pay a monthly fee just to use Windows? I sure wouldn't. Not to mention Office, 400+ bucks to buy it AND a monthly fee? These are things to look for in the near future. Micorsoft is adopting the MMORPG model of software use ;p

Not for me. At this time there is not a single reason to "upgrade" to XP. Win 98 and 2k work just fine, thank you very much, so I will just stick with what aint broken.

Well it seems my report of Tribes 2 working great was a bit premature. After a certain point in the menu process, I get a UE, every time.

Any ideas?

(Oh, and for me - WinME *was* broken.)

I'm on the fence about this one. I am incensed by the verification aspect. (By the way, corporations just pay boo-coo bucks for a blanket license, so they still get the shaft monetarily and can be "audited" for verification at any time). I've been using 98SE for some time, but it seems recently that everytime I upgrade some driver or software, it screws up the functioning of some other driver or software and then I have to jump through hoops to figure out what changed and how to repair it. :rolleyes: If XP just continues that scenario, I think I'll wait. Otherwise, the reports are speed and stability are greatly improved. Like Wid, the other add-ons are superfluous (and most times not as good as outside software). I think they are added in as a route to market further MS services ($$)
(By the by, I finally got the nVidia XP Detonator drivers working with my system when Hercules released thier version of them.)

Squidly you are in the same boat as me! And I didn't need an OS "upgraded" to break T2. I get the UE's CONSTANTLY after and often durring the menu selections.

Here let me clean off your seat. Nice view from the broken T2 boat, eh? Grumble grumble.

Update - I got Tribes2 to work! If you do a Windows Update, there is a patch on Microsoft that fixes a BUNCH of games that don't work. Tribes 2 isn't listed, but sure enough, it fixed the problem.

Once I find a way around registering it I'll borrow Pro from a friend who gets it for free from staples.. lucky guy. Not gonna put it on the new computer I'm building, just this one.

The registering thing was no big deal for me. It took about 5 seconds, and I'm only ever going to install this on one machine.

What worries me is what happens when I want to install it on a different machine in 6 months. Will it make me pay again? Do I need another subscription?

I just wish to God I could run all these games under Linux, because if I could it would be a no brainer. I know Loki lets you run some but there is always a lag time with new games and patches.

*sigh* Looks like as long as I'm a gamer I'm stuck under Microsoft's thumb.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

I think if you want to install it on another machine you get a small discount.

You do realize that all of us who have blithely installed and installed and installed Windoze on multiple machines from a single disk have been engaging in a form of piracy, right?

Not that I'm against this practice, but It's hard to really fault Microsoft for trying to crack down on it.

My concern is that in 6 months I decide to build a new machine from scratch and retire my old machine. I get all the new hardware together and put my store bought copy of WinXP on. Now, with thte onlinr registration process as I understand it, it will recognize that this license is now on a different physical machine.

Is there a way to transfer this license to another machine? Say I threw the old machine in the dumpster. Why should I have to pay for another license?

Until I start hearing success/horror stories and real compelling reasons to be on XP why bother moving to it? Especially, if your happy with what you have and everything works.

My understanding is that you can move from one machine to another like that without paying a fee. I read this either in PC World or ZNet.

If you're happy with what you had, I'm happy for ya. I'm not trying to "sell anyone". As you know, my system is LOADED with peripherals, and now with my new DV camcorder and the firewier card, I have even more. Plug and play is better, as is stability. Bottom line - for me, more stuff works.

Fair enough. Please post your hands-on experiences.

Has the look and feel changed any? Any noticable changes?

For anyone looking to go the "less than legal route" that avoids activation altogether, check out Morpheus and look for the copy XP Corporate Edition that's floating around out there. Not that I would ever do such a thing. Stealing from M$ is bad!

Quote:

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Originally posted by [AK]Bribo
Fair enough. Please post your hands-on experiences.

Has the look and feel changed any? Any noticable changes?

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My hands on experiences have been good so far. Noticable changes - Themes are front and center... I hated the one they start you off with, so I reverted to the "Classic". The task bar has some new features...you can run recent documents you've edited with one mouseclick as opposed to opening the app and loading the file. The system tray hides icons that haven't been used after a certain amount of time passes. You get the WinNT/2000 Task manager, with some extra stuff thrown in. Windows Explorer has a bunch of new stuff... Inline thumbnails are better than WinME, and you can get inline video from your camcorder if you have one hooked up (works great.) You don't need seperate CD burning software, WinXP does it for you and it seems to work well (have burned 2 CDs with no problem.)

Windows explorer also has a lot of tie-ins to the net... you can replace the folder panel with a media browser.... go out to the net and watch video, purchase music, or whatever.
Dunno how much I'll use it, but it's interesting.

There's an option to hide all or some icons on your desktop, or to periodically clean up icons on your desktop.

Windows Media player and Internet Explorer are both new versions, and so far they seem to work well. Haven't had the time to explore much of their features yet.

Whenever something bombs out, you have an option to send in a bug report to Microsoft. You can do it anonymously or not, it's up to you. Simple as hitting a "send" button.

More as I discover it.

Some reading material for those considering the jump:

http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupda...819766,00.html

Squid - what did you end up doing with Norton 2001? Did you simply uninstall/reinstall it? Or did you need to get a specific WinXP version?

Also, did you need to get the new Detonator XP drivers for your vid card? How about sound drivers?

Thanks,