Windows XP: What is it, and why do I need it?

What is it?
Windows XP is Microsoft’s latest version of its universally-used Windows operating system. Code-named Whistler, it is the first time that Microsoft has managed to converge its business line of operating systems with its products intended for home users. The result is an excellent operating system that has the stability of a business OS with the user-friendly interface of a home OS. Both the home and professional versions are based on the core that powered its previous business operating systems Windows NT and Windows 2000, making it much more robust than previous incarnations of the home operating system.

Why do I need it?
The two incarnations of XP, Home and Professional, are almost identical on the surface. They both look and act very similarly. The differences are behind the scenes, and may be important to you depending on what you need it for. First though, I’ll go through their shared features.

Over the years, Microsoft has worked to make hardware installation and setup easier. Starting with plug-and-play, and steadily improving Windows’ built-in drivers and hardware support, they’ve moved towards making it entirely painless. With XP, they have nearly achieved their goal. Upon installation, it finds and installs nearly everything with no problems at all. In the past I’ve found myself scrounging the net for drivers after installing a new operating system – but not so with XP. On the five computers I have installed it on, the process has been simple and efficient. Besides fresh installs though, adding hardware to XP is a snap. It has built-in support for many popular digital cameras and MP3 players, and PDAs.

For some people, looks aren’t important. Other people spend lots of time customizing the look and feel of their computers. XP has an entirely new and very flashy look compared to previous versions of Windows, which have looked essentially the same since Windows 95. The interface, called ‘Luna’ is similar enough to previous versions that long-time users won’t be disoriented, but it really is more efficient (and it looks great). Of course, for those of you who don’t like change, it includes the option to turn off all the flashy graphics and just look like a previous version of Windows. I just have to say though, the default blue theme is alright, but the included ‘silver’ theme looks much better.

So back to the difference between the Home and Professional versions of XP. What does Professional have that Home doesn’t?

-Remote Desktop: Allows you to connect to a computer with Terminal Services to remotely control it.
-Multi-processor support: For those of you with more than one processor (if you have to ask, then no, you don’t), you don’t have much of a choice – get Professional.
-Internet Information Services: IIS 5.1. For using XP Pro as a web server.
-Encrypting File System: Allows you to encrypt local files and protect them from other users. If you’re into that kind of thing.
-Multi-language support: Home also supports multiple languages, but Pro does it by default.

Considerations
Which version should you get? If you are a home user, get Home. You probably won’t miss the features in Professional, and it’s quite a bit cheaper. If you are a power or business user, you should at least take a serious look at Professional and see if it has features that you need. It can easily replace anything from Windows 95 through Windows 2000. Providing you have the hardware to run it, which brings me to my next point.

Is your computer going to be able to handle it? Any computer built within the last year or two should be fine. Make sure you have at least a 300 MHz processor, and 128mb of RAM. Note though, by ‘at least’ I really do mean it. Windows XP is very efficient with memory, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t like lots of it. I personally recommend 256mb. Memory is cheap, and you can never have too much. Another thing to consider is hard drive space. Windows is big. XP can be slimmed down a bit my removing some features, but its default install size is pushing 800mb, and the box recommends 1.5gb of free space.

If your computer is robust enough, and you don’t mind spending the time and money to upgrade, I truly believe that a lot of people could benefit from a switch to Windows XP. I have found it to be remarkably stable, and the hardware support and power user options it gives you are excellent.