Pro and Cons of Win2k pro SP4 and XP Pro SP2?

[jediphx]

Just like to get everyones opinions.

 

[PingSpike]

Pros XP Pro SP2: (just MO here)
XP Pro SP2 has a lot of features the average user really needs. And they might even like as well. The security center does a decent job of holding the average users hand and forcing them to do some smart stuff...like run a firewall, nag them about not having antivirus, force them to turn windows update on, etc. If you're a more advanced user, you will find that annoying.
Fast boot times.
Has more drivers included out of the box.
Has system restore.

Cons:
Runs slower out of the box, needs more ram. Has a lot of junk that needs to be turned off to get it to run a little better.
Removed support for non-PNP hardware
More compatibility problems with older apps (some will argue, including MS...but I stand behind this.)
Has System restore.

Win2K SP4:
No extra crap on top (good thing for me anyway)
Runs better on older hardware, needs less ram.
Doesn't ask you if you're a retard or not everytime you open a folder.
Non-PNP hardware support.

Cons:
MS seems to be trying to force people to upgrade from it. I believe they've dumped support for future IE releases on it. Seems like they're putting updates on the backburner as apposed to XP.
A bit more complicated for average user, it doesn't hold your hand as much as XP.
Slower boot times.

 

[groovin]

the slower boot time point is very arguable... ive used XP and 2k on the same hardware, and yes, on the surface it seems that XP boots faster... but looking closely at it, even the UI has come up and i can move my mouse around, it is still some time before the system is actually usable.. that is theres still lots of processes starting up in the background. my definition of boot time is having a usable system, and in my limited experience, XP might not be much faster, if at all then 2k... **ths was done only on my spare systems... obviouslly there are a gazillion variables that could affect this... mileage does vary.