Windows XP: Prices, And One Reaction 598
Jim42688 writes: "Looks like the prices Amazon was reporting for Windows XP a while back were right. On the back of today's ad for CompUSA, it lists the prices to preorder. Home Full, 199.99, Home Upgrade, 99.99. Professional full, 299.99, Professional upgrade, 199.99." Perfect timing -- Fwis writes: "Use your power as a consumer to Boycott XP.
The site is now functioning smoothly, and we invite you to log in and
participate in discussions, polls, and news stories related to Microsoft's release
of the XP line of products." There are some interesting links on this page if you (or someone with purchasing power at your company) is considering XP.
bah, for windows users... (Score:2, Informative)
but anyway, check out these benchmarks of win2k vs winXP
http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1501
Re:bah, for windows users... (Score:3, Informative)
Beta versions, on the other hand, often have a lot of debugging information built in that could cause bloat and lag.
Personally, I hate windows, and I'll be keeping XP at a very long distance. However, if we're going to rag a product, let's do it for the right reasons :)
Re:boycott XP? (Score:3, Informative)
Perhaps you missed it in the news, but Microsoft was recently tried in court for illegally abusing their monopoly position to retain dominance and unfairly squash competition. It was generally called the "Microsoft antitrust trial", and not only was Microsoft found guilty, but the appeals court upheld the guilty verdict. So Microsoft's success was ill-gained - this is not just arbitrary opinions of some people, its a fact that has been not only found in court but upheld by the appeals court (or do you think all the judges are also just jealous of Microsoft's success?).
The reason for the boycott is basically that all the illegal tactics that Microsoft used to gain dominance are still being used, they continue to break the law, and the lack of competition that results from this is harming customers [scorpioncity.com].
Did you really not notice this trial that was going on? It was very well publicised. Or did you just neglect to listen when the facts of the case were discussed in the media?
Re:Upgrading (Score:1, Informative)
And if... (Score:2, Informative)
-Elendale
Re:Transparent Encryption? (Score:3, Informative)
The mechanism for encrypting files is simply a checkbox in an "advanced" menu. Only 2 button clicks deep, but far enough out of the way that most people won't accidentally enable encryption. Also, you can't encrypt files that have been compressed natively... Of course, the work around is that you use winzip or pkzip or winrar to compress your files, then encrypt them with the built-in encryption.
This is only local encryption! If you want encryption over a network, you've still got to use IPSec, Kerberos, VPN, etc.
All of these features are available in Windows 2000 and XP. In fact, just about every worth-while feature in XP is also found in 2000. Oh yah, you get to use WPA in XP! Another reason to upgrade to 2000 instead of XP if you're going to use Windows.
Top 10 reasons XP kicks ass (Score:1, Informative)
10) Remote assistance lets support people connect to people's
machines and fix problems over the internet.
9) Locking toolbars: No more accidently fucking up your IE toolbars
or your taskbar. They stay where you want them.
8) Cookie management in the new IE. You can block and accept cookies
to your liking based on hostnames. So.. you can let hotmail write
cookies, but choose to block some random ad site from doing it.
7) New visual themes in explorer. New "skins" that let windows different.. finally.
6) "My Computer" can be on the start bar now (the new default) so you
no longer have to minimize everything and search for that stupid icon
on your desktop. It kicks ass once you get used to it.
5) Compatibility modes let your programs run thinking they're in
win9x, win95, windows2000, etc so that things that wouldn't normally
work, will.
4) The new task oriented shell. It is nice once you get used to it. If you open a
directory of pictures it will let you view a slideshow of them, print
them, etc. If you open a folder of mp3s it has tasks on the left
that will let you burn them to audio cd, play them, etc.
3)No reboots required to install or detect hardware (most of the
time)I've been spoiled by this one. In fact the number of reboots has been cut down to ~10% of what they used to be. I think win2k sucks now
2) Built in cd burning. Burn data cds in the shell or audio cds in media player. Very convenient especially for users that would normally not be able to figure out how to burn a cd.
1.5) Remote desktop. Uses terminal services ala win2k server, except you can take over the desktop on the remote machine. It supports more colors than the win2k version,and even does sound. It is like vnc only it is actually fast and redraws the screen properly.
1) It is replacing that hunk of shit Win9x/me
Re:bah, for windows users... (Score:3, Informative)
(normal asm code)
jmp 245
(line number info, symbolics, etc)
245: (normal asm code)
Which really thrashes the cache and disrupts the pipeline pretty harshly.
Re:Already! (Score:5, Informative)
I would. I decide what our corporate technology standards are, what products are purchased and what OS is installed on our 150+ PCs. Currently, that standard is Windows 2000 Professional and Server so I am in a prime position to upgrade to XP. However....
About a month or so ago, a rep from Microsoft called me to give me the pitch for XP and how it would make 'everything so much better.' I actually had a great deal of fun with that call. Essentially, I told him that I had absolutely no intention of going to any XP product anytime soon. He courteously informed me that if I didn't it would cost us way more when we finally upgraded. I responded by saying that 'anytime soon' was just my nice way of saying that I'd never goto XP. He balked at that one and asked why. I told him that, frankly, I didn't care one bit for MS's licensing practices, the quality (or lack thereof) of their products, the inherent insecurity of their products and a few others that I can't remember. When he asked what our intentions were, I told him that we would stay with the 2000 line for a couple years. After that we would begin evaluating alternative operating systems and applications -- primarily Linux. I then told him that our core application was a client server model that already had a web based front end and could easily be ported to Apache & Oracle or MySQL. As for Office and messaging applications, I told him that there were many solid alternatives to Exchange already on the market and StarOffice would work just fine for our Office Suite needs. At that point he said "Oh. Thank you for your time." and hung up.
I decided to start boycotting Microsoft products a while ago -- when the details about the new licensing scheme were released. I know that 150 PC and 20 servers isn't much to MS, but it's aleast a half million dollars when it's all said and done. Had it not been for the licensing changes, I probably would have upgraded.
Windows XP FAQ (Score:3, Informative)
- If you have a legal copy, WPA is no problem. You just click 'Next' , then 'Finish'.Done. And Microsoft can't use your PC spec info; it's a one-way hash code.(BTW, it's been cracked.)
- It's not bloated: It runs perfectly fine on my p250 128MB, with visual styles enabled. All the patronising features (simple file sharing and that puppy on the search bar) can be easily disabled.)
- It's stable.Mostly.
- It's got a pretty nice stealth firewall (grc.com's ShieldsUP says so, anyway.). And the built-in cd-writing's convenient too.
- It DOES run every one as administrator by default, for Win9x legacy reasons. Not hard to change that, but the default 'Limited User' profile has problems with older apps and games. The trick is to put the users in the predefined 'Power Users' group.
- It's still Windows. If you hate Windows, it probably won't change your mind, but nevertheless it's the best Windows to work with.
It's got lots of other features too, so if you have a question before you consider upgrading, I'm here for you(so nice of me isn't it)
Bullshit (Score:3, Informative)
Roxio has a monopoly in CD recording software by way of CD Creator. Roxio dictates to manufacturers how to do the hardware interface. Roxio charges an extremely HIGH price to consumers to obtain this software.
I had to upgrade from CD Creator v3 to v4 for Win2k compatibility. Roxio wanted like $90 for this upgrade.
I was able to buy a brand new CD-RW drive with bundled CD Creator for $99. A new 10X drive which was faster than my old 4X Yamaha.
I would hardly say that Roxio by itself has been benefiting consumers.
Besides, all Microsoft has done is license the software from Roxio and include it in WinXP by default.
If anything this is an example of how bundling can benefit consumers.
Chances are, the Roxio software in WinXP is limited in some fashion. Obviously Roxio did this in order to leverage sales of their Deluxe product.
But since WinXP contains some rudimentary support for CD-R drives in some fashion we now have a standard! Hardware makers can write drivers that plug into the existing WinXP OS. Software makers of all sorts can leverage the existing CD-R handling and create more full featured writing programs.
I see this as increasing consumer well being, similar to the way Microsoft increased our ability to network when they integrated TCP/IP into Win95 and eliminated the need to buy third party products like LANtastic.
BoycottXP.com: wrong approach (Score:2, Informative)
As long as the people that run this site allow this kind of speech on their main page, they will never be taken seriously and will never get the media attention they're after. What a waste...