I know that XP Pro is supposed to be more secure and better for networking but for your novice user is it really that much better to get than Home edition?
XP Pro vs. XP Home
- Thread starter imported_nautique
- Start date
the ONLY reason to get Pro vs Home for home/casual use can be summed up in 4 words, "DISABLE SIMPLE FILE SHARING"
I hate simple file sharing, and I couldn't seem to get the xp home box I had for a few days to shut it off. It's a bastard if you understand how to share and set permissions correctly.
I hate simple file sharing, and I couldn't seem to get the xp home box I had for a few days to shut it off. It's a bastard if you understand how to share and set permissions correctly.
XP Pro has:
Remote Desktop Server (Access your PC remotely)
Ability to join domains (Good for corporate environments)
File System level encryption (good for protecting data)
IIS 5.1 (good for webdevelopment purposes - limited to 10 connections)
SMP support (have more then one cpu?)
More features related to a corporate environment (roaming profiles, group policy...)
XP Pro is not faster, slower, or more/less stable. The features above are the key differences.
XP Pro vs. XP Home (From Microsoft)
Remote Desktop Server (Access your PC remotely)
Ability to join domains (Good for corporate environments)
File System level encryption (good for protecting data)
IIS 5.1 (good for webdevelopment purposes - limited to 10 connections)
SMP support (have more then one cpu?)
More features related to a corporate environment (roaming profiles, group policy...)
XP Pro is not faster, slower, or more/less stable. The features above are the key differences.
XP Pro vs. XP Home (From Microsoft)
The only good reason would be SMP (more than one proc), or if you are going to be part of a domain (not supported in xp home).
I think that if you're a develop of any kind, XP Pro is the way to go. XP Pro is more flexible and let's you do more with your system, where as Home limits you according to what features are pre-chosen and sometimes not even there in the first place.
In my opinion, Home is like an old Mac trying to decide what's right for you (I hate that)
In my opinion, Home is like an old Mac trying to decide what's right for you (I hate that)
Remote desktop in itself is worth the extra price from my experience dealing with the average person. A lot of times you'll want to tap into your home file system from afar and it's really easy to do with remote desktop, plus plenty secure unlike VNC and such which don't do encryption (granted, commercial VNCs may offer encryption but you might as well pay the $$ for Pro in the first place).
Question - I'm about to buy an X2 4400+, but if I install XP Home, will I see little or no benefit? I am going to order XP Pro as well, but I'm going to have to wait a week or two after my X2 to get it so I'm just wondering.
mechBgon, I don't agree with that. Microsoft won't support XP Pro longer than XP Home. They have no reason to do so because they're the same base operating system. Changes they make to XP will apply to both versions, so they might as well release the changes for both.
You never know with microsoft, they may see it as a way to get people to upgrade from home to pro which equals more money. I heard they arn't putting security updates out anymore for any pre 2000 machine.
Yes, but it's 2005. To not support an obosolete kernel that is declining in use makes business sense. I don't think MS will stop support on Home before Pro, as was said, they are the same core OS, with a few disabled functions in home.
My buddy and I were talkin' about this the other day, Why do ya'll think they came out with 2 different versions of xp. Why not just xp pro all the way?
mechBgon
Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
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Look at MS's LifeCycle pages for some more info. I agree with your concept, in fact I think they should never have bothered with XP Home in the first place... but in the course of studying for my Reality+ cert... yeah.
That's one interesting aspect of Win2000 Pro, it's supported at Windows Update longer than WinXP Home Edition is. I don't know precisely what will happen to systems using Automatic Updates and stuff. There is also the possibility that MS will pull a Win98/WinNT and graciously extend support for XP Home Edition. If they do, then teh yays for many second owners of eMachines/Gateway/Compaq/etc
edit: more on-topic, I do appreciate the extra capabilities of Pro myself. GPEdit, the ability to turn off Stupid File Sharing, Backup/ASR, ability to join a domain, EFS... yeah, I'll spend the extra.
2 different version? Just off the top of my head:
XP Home
XP Pro
XP Media Center Edition
XP Tablet PC Edition
XP Embedded
Different types of computers and user needs make for different configurations of the base OS. Its easier to sell that way, and
also easier to support that way.
MS doesn't want to trick people into moving from Home to Pro. They already know that people who need the features of
Pro, (or Media Center, or Tablet PC) will upgrade by their own choice. If you already own Home and are happy with it, then
they have you right where they want to market other products from Plus! to Office, to those consumers.
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Since you sound very well-informed, I'm still a bit
I believe MCE lets you join a domain only on the initial install. I've read the reason for this is because an MCE license is cheaper than pro, and this would stop businesses from purchasing the cheaper version while minimally affecting home users.
also, you can turn off most of the babysitting features that bog you down in XP pro. In home, you can't.
home ver. sucks, IMO.
And I come from a mac background, so I liked being able to access files by going through the hdd files and NOT through the start menu. Pro lets you get your hands into the files more readilly, while home essentially keeps you out of all the stuff you actually want to work with. That's my view on the issue, though.
home ver. sucks, IMO.
And I come from a mac background, so I liked being able to access files by going through the hdd files and NOT through the start menu. Pro lets you get your hands into the files more readilly, while home essentially keeps you out of all the stuff you actually want to work with. That's my view on the issue, though.
There are some advantages of XP HOME, for one thing out of the box it uses less ram. If you disable all the unecessary services in XP pro/disable eye candy/all those effects, the system will still use more ram then the out of the box XP home system. When you disable the eye candy, all the effects, and unecessary services, you can get it to use less ram than windows 2000 (patched) which in fact uses the same amount of ram XP Pro does (patched, no SP2) with all the eye candy/effects+services disabled.
It already says on microsoft's website life cycle that they will end support for XP PRO much later than for home...
Originally posted by: Penth
Since you sound very well-informed, I'm still a bit
I believe MCE lets you join a domain only on the initial install. I've read the reason for this is because an MCE license is cheaper than pro, and this would stop businesses from purchasing the cheaper version while minimally affecting home users.[/quote]
As I understand it, MCE is a two disc install, the first disc installs XP Pro, and the second disc modifies that install to
work as a media center. Part of the modifications will disable features like domain support, unless the PC was made
part of a domain in the initial install.
According to this link http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx XP Home and Pro have exactly the same projected dates
for the end of mainstream support. XP Pro has a further date for extended support, which appears to be standard for
business use. I stand partially corrected on the date issue, but I still stand on my upgrade position. By the time
XP Home is expected to be end-of-lifed, MS is planning to already start marketing whatever product comes from
the Longhorn project as the next home use OS. Businesses typically take a little longer to make that migration.
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