Originally posted by: smitty99
Like...?
Most of the advances in XP were targetted at bringing the NT world of joy to the home user. The Welcome screen (with it's attendant multiple logins) and CD burning are a few examples of this. The Welcome screen is entirely non-functionel in a domain environment, and CD burning is hardly a killer app on the enterprise desktop. The best feature I can think of is the Terminal Services/Remote Desktop setup, which is rather well-implemented IMHO.
Otherwise, there's NetMeeting! And the Media bar in IE! And integrated .NET support (don't forget the all-new ads in Windows Messenger!) I especially love the Search (A.K.A. Spy) Companion! As my (hopefully apparent) sarcasm shows, most of the new amazing features are really not that great. They're little interface tweaks that focus on the new user more than anything.
Hmmm. Sarcasm works better when there's a viable target. Not one "issue" you mention really holds water. If you become a bit more familiar with WinXP you won't be so inclined to knock it?
NetMeeting can be very valuable in the corporate environment as well as the home environment. I doubt that I can make that any clearer to you than a brief perusal of the features would. Besides, what does NetMeeting have to do with WinXP in the particular??? I've seen it hanging around since Win95, haven't I? (And I wasn't even a Windows user until after Windows 2000 was released.)
Media bar in IE??? Again, not specific to Windows XP. Specific to IE. No one twists your arm to use it. It isn't active by default (unless, maybe, some of the OEMs make it that way on their junky images?). What the hey?
Search Companion: Surely you jest. It's true that the default setup is silly, but probably reasonably well-suited to the needs of Joe Average who couldn't care less about searching through system files or such. But reverting it to classic behavior is ridiculously easy to do. Where's the beef? As for it being spyware? Huh? You have to specifically give the thing permission to access the Internet, and then you have to specifically give it permission to send information about your system to MS. Same as with the Help system. And it ain't sending your credit card numbers or even your browsing habits or your identity out. So?
Okay, so no target.
Now how about what WinXP has that Win2K doesn't. The list is too long to bother with more than a few. I don't care if you don't believe me. If the search function still isn't working that's just tough. I have made long lists of the features too many times to bother with it again. So have many others on this forum. But you don't need the forum to find the differentiation. I had learned most of the important differences within a month after I started using Windows XP.
But a few real killers:
Your notebook is stolen. You have vital data on board that is encrypted. Can't get to it in Win2K? Nonsense. Someone uses a boot disk to change the password of the Admin account. The Admin is the Recovery Agent. Bingo! You crack the password on a Windows XP system and the encrypted data is history. The password you cracked was part of the encryption key. Sorry! Not to mention that the admin isn't the default recovery agent. Depending upon how you were set up, which user encrypted the info, and who the recovery agent was set up as (which might not even be a local user) no one will see the data unless they guess the right user name and the right password. Could take a while to do if the system owner was serious about security.
Ever use RUNAS? Works a heck of a lot better with a /savecred switch. Otherwise, you have to tell the end user whose access you wanted to limit a real password to a real account with a higher permissions level. That's what you have to do in Windows 2000. It's what you don't have to do in Windows XP. This sucker works great for family use as well as for corporate use.
Ever examine the differences between the included security templates in the two operating systems?
Ever notice how hard it can be to get back into a bunged Windows 2000 installation without a current ERD? You don't need an ERD in Windows XP. And then there's System Restore, which actually works. And Driver Rollback, which actually works.
Eh, I don't feel like going on. I guess I shouldn't have posted. It's just that, after having been through this a gazillion times here and elsewhere, I get kind of irritated seeing all of the naysaying about Windows XP from people who don't seem to have really researched the matter at all thoroughly. There can be good reasons for choosing Windows 2000 over Windows XP, and I've said so many times. But a blanket dismissal of Windows XP as being differentiated from Windows 2K merely by GUI changes is just silly.
- prosaic
Facebook
Twitter