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1. How much is XP gonner cost? >>
XP home should be inline with Win98/ME, XP Pro should be inline with 2k Pro. And yes there will most likely be student licenses available of one or the other.
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2. I only have 98 now, if I upgrade to Win2K pro will XP be CHEAPER? >>
XP Home edition probably will be but it's kind of crippled compared to Win XP Pro...
read about the differences. I'd be looking at Win2k pro vs WinXP pro, and not considering WinXP Home personally. WinXP Pro will cost you more than Win2k Pro because WinXP Pro can't upgrade from Win98SE, whereas Win2k Pro can. WinXP Home should cost you less than either, but IMO is quite crippled.
Edit: Though if WinXP home doesn't have a student license it will probably cost a bit more than your student license of Win2k.
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3. When is it released? >>
There used to be a counter at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/, that said October 25th and counted down the minutes...but I can't seem to find it anymore.
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4. Will it be offered as an upgrade to any of the previous OS's? >>
Win XP Home Edition (formely known as personal) will be upgradeable from Win98, WinME, and Win2000 Pro (and maybe NT4 can't remember off the top of my head but shouldn't matter for you). Win XP Pro will be upgradeable from WinNT4 and Win2000 Pro. Note the lack of Win95 from either list and Win98/ME from the Pro list. XP Pro will cost you alot more than 2k Pro because you don't qualify for the XP Pro upgrade. Win2k can upgrade from 95, 98, NT3.51, NT4.
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5. Could someone please explain this piracy protection system as SIMPLY as possible? >>
It's quite simple really, this could all change but here's how it stands now.
With previous versions of Windows you get a CD Key stamped on the box somewhere, and you use that when you install.
With XP you have to activate to get your CD key. You install and it will pop up a number on the screen, we'll call this the "Lock". You phone up microsoft and tell them your Lock-Code, and they give you a Key-Code to unlock it. From then on your Key-Code acts exactly like a Win98/ME/2000 code. If you make several hardware changes your "Lock" will change and you'll have to call up MS and get a new Key.
You have 14 days to do this after install.
(You don't have to call btw, activation can be done on the net or through email).
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6. I have also heard bad things about making digital copies of CD's etc. Could someone explain again SIMPLY what I will/won't be able to do? mp3's? Copying CD's to HD? Napster etc. (I don't use Napster btw) Will Digital Audio Extraction be stopped altogether? >>
No one knows yet. There is suppose to be secured digital media...like you supposedly can't even play validated MP3s with Winamp. But I don't know if that's true or not....
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7. What does it offer over Win2K?
8. Anything else that is intresting/bad/unfair/good about XP that'll be useful to know. >>
I'll answer these together:
WinXP has several new "features" that you can't get with Win2000:
[*]The new GUI. Which is like LiteStep or WindowBlinds, just integrated into the OS now.
[*]System Restore, if you have WinME you know about this. Win98SE and Win2000 don't have it, WinME and WinXP do.
[*]Apperntly WinXP has better support for digital cameras than Win2k.
[*]WinXP also has built in CD Writing software.
WinXP also comes with IE6 and WMP8...but they aren't XP specific...if you want them you can download them for Win2000.
The new GUI is kind of neat (I hate the pastel blue...but look around for the screen shot of the metallic skin it looks pretty nice).
I personally hate system restore...I do my own backups with Drive Image, and it doesn't hog system resources like restore does (oh surprise surprise MS hogs resources...)
The digital camera bit might be important to you...I don't use one, but I knoew people that do and they've never had problems...but what do I know?
I don't know about WinXP's built in CD Writing software....if it's PacketCD that would be kind of cool because then we'd have a standardized packet CD format and they might become marginally useful. But personally I'll stick to Nero and CDRWIN.
I've also heard WinXP is stricter with Digital Signatures on Drivers than Win2000 is....not sure if that's true or not...but it's something to consider if you like playing with Betas.
WinXP still has the 60Hz refresh problem with games. Some people have gotten around it in Win2000...I have not
Hopefully WinXP will finally fix the SPDIF passthrough for DVD playback...but who can say? Win2k's still seems broken even in SP2. But I use a Hollywood Plus if I want TV-out and/or SPDIF out and that works fine in Win2k (or at least it should I don't have a digital reciever so I've never actually used it).
But really when it comes right down to it, WinXP is just fluff on top of Win2000.
Win2000 = NT5.0, WinXP = NT5.1
They run the same software, they use the same drivers. With SP1 or 2 Win2000 even has the compatiblity mode tool.
The thing you have to ask yourself, is do you want/need the new "fluff" that WinXP introduces. If you don't go with Win2000.
It's really the same choice as Win98SE vs WinME. You won't lose any software compatibility, driver and software optimizing is equal for both NT5 variants....
I hope that helped out somewhat. I've been studying WinXP for months trying to make the same decision you made. I decided on Win2000 (especially at 50 pounds, it's worth double that for the upgrade...), maybe XP is a better choice for you though. If you have any more questions feel free to ask them. I'll do my best to dig up answers for you.
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