CruzThs,

Lessee if I can mark this up enough to have your comments stand out from my responses....

As a Microsoft employee I have been using XP for over a year now. I have had no problems with Emplode.

I appreciate your flashing the badge right up front! I have a number of friends at the UW (oh, CruzThs knows, but that's University of Washington), around Seattle and in other parts of the country who have been running XP since betas and the general conclusion is that it is the "best yet" from Microsoft. From all reports, I would not anticipate problems with apps like Emplode. In the end, though, most of the folks I've discussed it with are not going to run XP in production for reasons such as those laid out by Livingston. For business users already running Win2K on vanilla desktops with basic productivity applications, there are many fewer reasons to upgrade and a bigger downside from what I would call the "choice" perspective.
Some other notes:
- Win2K keys do not work on WinXP What I had heard was that an XP key could be used to backward activate -- or at least be counted as a license -- for corporate licensees that are standardized on Win2K. Up to a point (until the plug gets pulled!) this would be consistent with Microsoft past practice. Like I say, I'm hardly certain on this, and anyone contemplating this as an option would do well to read the fine print. I see Dell Dimensions still load Win2K with XP as an option, but for how long?

- The kernal of XP is Win2K with many fixes and enhancements. If your computer is running Win2K and is just a server, there really is no reason to upgrade...

Again, I'd say there are few compelling reasons for businesses to upgrade their desktops as well unless they're having problems with their application mix on Win2K.

If you use your Win2K machine on a daily basis with various productivity software (mainly OfficeXP) I highly recommend you upgrade.

Big if. Staying away from Office XP for the same reasons I'm avoiding Windows XP.

It's faster and more stable than Win2K. I have not rebooted my PC in over a month.

I will follow with interest. I was *soooo* happy with Win2K (compared to 95/98/NT, anyway!) at first, but things got drecky as I added apps. DLL Hell seemed to be alive and well.

- For home users running Win95, Win98 or WinME - there is no question about upgrading. Your talking about the difference between a Ford Model-T and BMW X5.

So you are saying that XP is butt ugly???

(The X5 looks like it has two big pickle barrels stuck to the front!) Nobody I've talked with would dispute that XP is, at least from the standpoint of stability and moment-to-moment operation, absolutely a huge improvment over weak, unstable offerings like 95/98/ME, and something of an improvement over Win2K.

- The new activation feature DOES NOT force you to register your personal information with Microsoft. You don't even have to provide your name. It does however force you to register your WinXP key so that no one else can register it. As it stands now you could make a million copies of Win2K and make them work with the same key. It's just not fair that people can steal copies that easy. I'm sure someone will crack the XP activation feature, but it will still help in cutting down pirating.

There's a 3rd Livingston article that supports your point even more so -- that WPA is easy to circumvent in any event and is more of an annoyance. Given Microsoft's less-than-stellar track record in all things security-oriented, I am more worried about the potential encroachment of service like Passport, and have pretty much foresworn ever being a Passport consumer. If that means I move to Mexico and deal only in cash, so be it.

- I my own opinion I think Microsoft should have allowed 1 copy of XP to be installed on all computers within a single house hold (however not corporate computers). I was a little bummed at that. I even had to purchase multiple copies for my home computers.

In an era of PC saturation and declining sales, Microsoft needs another revenue stream. I wouldn't expect a company with their record to go easy on us at this point. I hope you got the employee discount!

I'll be coming to a bit of a crossroads here. I have a Win2K work laptop that will not change, a Redhat Linux file server, a debian Linux box that is my all-purpose experimental desktop for new stuff, and a Win2K desktop that I use for Colin McRae Rally 2 and MP3 Tag Studio. This Win2K desktop has an ATI AIW radeon, SB Live! platinum and a bunch of other stuff. In truth I have been using it for some other things such as video capture/editing with Videowave 5. It isn't what I would call acceptably stable. Indeed some of those new XP ATI drivers could perhaps fix some of my ills, and I know that if XP achieves market penetration, Microsoft won't exactly be helping ATI fix my Win2K drivers! Be that as it may, though, XP is a case where I think Microsoft has advanced their own interests beyond my interests as a customer to a point that I am no longer willing to play. If Linux video projects don't provide a usable alternative to Win2K as a vid cap/edit platform, I may just buy a Mac. Part of me wonders why I didn't make that leap a long time ago.

OK.. I'm done.

Whoo. Me, too, I think!

Jim