Thank Goodness for Windows XP

[Laustimus]

For my slow, virus prone, memory leaking OS I chose XP as the least worst Windows to install on my Macbook (bootcamp).. but 99% of the time I stay in Leopard

Was it really that hard to find a system that you could get XP drivers for? I just built a quad core 8gb of ram with 3TB of storage system for my brother and had no problem.

 

[alcina]

However, you can't disable stupid.

Ah, truer words have never been spoken!

I don't have any desire to return to the days of the Blue Screen of Death.

LOL I love this and remember it well. I kinda wish that my Vaio had given me one, just for old time's sake. Instead it just made two gurgling noises and died. 32 months of use. Pathetic. I hope your Vaio gives you many years of service...they sure are sexy, and some of the new ones about to be released are just too sexy (but mine frustrated the heck out of me virtually the whole time I had it).

 

[drbill]

What do you mean? I keep Win 98 around just so I can continue to see the Blue Screen of Death on at least one of my systems... and I do at least 3-5 times a day as Win 98 stumbles mis-managing its memory. Rebooting it gives me a chance to hit the bathroom and refill my cup of coffee.

The thing that I really get a laugh out of is Microsoft's insistence in the warning message that I must have done something wrong, like shutting down the system prematurely... certainly a rather arrogant suggestion!

 

[peterbj7]

I've had blue screen with XP, caused by hardware rather than software.

I vaguely remember Wordstar, but I still sometimes use WordPerfect 5.1, the last DOS version they made and IMO a superb system. There is very little in modern WPs over what 5.1 did that I find useful, and my does it fly!

There is another alternative to MS Office other than OpenOffice. Go to the Lotus website and download the new Symphony suite. It doesn't feel the same as the original Symphony (which IMO was a superb system), but it's totally up-to-date and will operate in just about any file format that's ever been invented.

I tried to buy an HP laptop in England in January with XP installed, and they wouldn't provide it. I then said I was happy to install XP myself so long as I would be able to get all the device drivers, and they said that they were now fitting devices for which there were no XP drivers and I would have to use Vista. I managed to speak to someone there that I knew, as I've bought several HP machines in recent years, and asked her what the score was. She said they aren't allowed by MS to supply XP or any XP drivers and they're told to say that only Vista will work - MS are so desperate to force this unwelcome product on us all. But she said that in fact I wouldn't have any difficulty in finding XP drivers, at least for the time being. She said that they constantly get requests for machines with XP.

I had much the same answers from Dell in the UK, but I've never liked Dell so didn't probe very hard. But it does seem that MS are threatening not to provide licences to manufacturers who support people in running XP - makes me ever more determined NEVER to use Vista. I'll switch to Mac or Linux first.

 

[drbill]

Word Perfect 5.1 was my preference after Wordstar, Peter. It is still on my older machines. Now I use Wordpad mostly for quick text entry, and format to the actual use (mostly web material and my newspaper column) later.

I'm not surprised re: HP and Microsoft on the XP drivers, etc. It seems Microsoft, and to a lesser extent HP, are shooting themselves in the foot. If I want XP, I'm still paying both for an OS I actually like. I actually wanted to buy a certain HP system, but decided against it based on the same feedback from their tech folks. At least the Dell I ended up buying has both OS'es.

 

[cave_diver]

June 30th was the deadline that Microsoft imposed. I don't think it was extended!

A combination of XP and Vista is still available through the Dell website. A link is here:

Business Desktop Computers & Custom PC's - Dell

However, the price has increased to $99. This is what the Dell says: "Need XP? Windows XP Professional pre-installed when purchasing Windows Vista Business Bonus for only $99!"

This is as of today (August 08). I'm not sure how long the promotion will continue.

 

[Web Monkey]

ubuntu.com

Checking hardware compatability is a piece of cake. Download the CD image file and burn it to a CD, then boot from the CD. The entire operating system will run from the CD without needing to install anything on your hard drive. It comes with OpenOffice, which supports all the standard MS Office file formats. You can effectively try it out extensively before having to commit.

And the best part of all ......... it's all open source ..... and free.

If you add Wine, it will even run vPlanner and Uwatec's SmartTrak.

Office! Audio and Video stuff!, utilities! Free! Free! Free! Free! It's all free!

Terry

 

[ekremer]

Oh to clarify how getting both vista and xp works here is the description:

What is Windows Vista Downgrade Rights ?

If you are a legal owner of Windows Vista OS (Business / Ultimate), you are allowed to downgrade your copy to Windows XP (Pro / x64 / Tablet PC) free of charge. Which means if you buy Windows Vista and for any reason you do not wish to continue with Windows Vista, Microsoft allows you to downgrade and install Windows XP on your system free of charge.

 

[cave_diver]

Oh to clarify how getting both vista and xp works here is the description:

What is Windows Vista Downgrade Rights ?

If you are a legal owner of Windows Vista OS (Business / Ultimate), you are allowed to downgrade your copy to Windows XP (Pro / x64 / Tablet PC) free of charge. Which means if you buy Windows Vista and for any reason you do not wish to continue with Windows Vista, Microsoft allows you to downgrade and install Windows XP on your system free of charge.

I did not know this! Where do you get your XP software from? Do you have to surrender your Vista software to Microsoft?

 

[cfelliot]

A combination of XP and Vista is still available through the Dell website.........

I stand corrected see:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/future.aspx

Look under Top Questions for the downgrading information.

Be aware that the systems still available from Dell are Business Systems. Great for Word-processing etc, but not much on the newer frills.

I can understand Microsoft's position in regard to the business community. Take a guess at the IT costs to retrain a 2000 person organization!!!!!