This first section is not in response to you but I'm not going to
respond to everybody's thread individually. This first section will cover it
all. I see other posts in this thread that say that XP is barely different
than ME but they are soo inaccurate. I think some folks don't really know
what they are talking about. I say that based on what they are posting.
There is a HUGE difference between XP Home and ME. The XP OS is true 32 bit,
not mix and match, which is one of if not the most important reason it makes
the OS TONS more stable than 98 or ME. Read any major magazine, from PC
Magazine to PCGamer, XP Home is the best home operating system available.
PCGamer benchmarked XP vs Me. XP out of the box beats Me with all its
patches in every benchmark. In the 3dmark 2001, Quake3 Arena, and in MDK2
benchmarks that they test sytems with, it outperforms ME. PCGamer recommends
keeping 98SE, note they recommend 98SE not ME, only if older apps will not
run in the 32 bit environment. The games that don't perform well are due to
that mixed mode OS that was on the market for several years. When those apps
are optimized for 32 bit use, they will fly. XP is a resource hog?? XP is
the first home OS to ever take full advantage of more than 192 MB of RAM.
Win 98 and ME always would tailor off in performance gains after reaching
that threshold. Secondly, I see that people say that there are processes
running that wouldn't run in 98. Most of those processes running, the ones
you see in Task Manager under user names "system" and "local service", have
always been there in 98 and Me. Yep! That's right! The ones that show under
your user name are the ones you would had seen in 98 and Me's OS. Most of
the others were hidden. Do you think those OS's ran with explorer and
systray controlling the whole works?? Those programs were not in charge of
everything! Just because those processes show now does not mean they are
hogging resources. The rest of the processes that are running in that list
that were not in 98 and ME are there to provide better information to the
user about hardware issues, better system stability, and allow for a true
audit system of system messages. Now if there's an error, it doesn't get
lost forever: it is available in Event Viewer and you don't always have to
reboot to fix the problem. The print spooler can fail, for example, that in
98 or Me would require a reboot to fix. Not any more, just stop and restart
the spooler service in the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services
program. Plus, any of these can be disabled for *** through the same
services program and they can be disabled forever if that is what you wish.
And you don't have to guess what these things are doing based on a path and
name of the exe file like in 98 and ME's msconfig program. The Services
program gives a description of each service's function. BTW folks, the
operating system on a PC is not meant for just ***. If you truly want
that, get a console. There has never been an OS dedicated to ***, ever.
XP takes advantage of resources better than any other consumer Microsoft OS
ever, while giving the user the say in what goes on in the background. Xp's
version of Windows Explorer has the ability to burn data cd's. You can also
create, expand zip files and open and view the individual files in them
without an external program being necessary, a software firewall option,
etc. It also has many wizards for novice to do tasks that were before very
difficult, such as user accounts (formerly profiles), and internet
connection sharing, the help section is actually useful now and its
interface has been streamlined. It is also very easy to get up and running.
To quote PC Gamer's story, it is the "first version of Windows that our
grandmothers could install and use without cursing at the computer every two
seconds." These are the reasons why it is outperforming ME in benchmarks,
and is being recommended to anyone that doesn't run apps that won't run in a
32 bit environment. Even then a dual boot configuration is recommended by
PcGamer for those older apps, not returning XP. XP Home is definitely the
way to go for a home user.
Now, on the business side, as I said before, Win ME screwed over not
only hardware producers (having to write new drivers just because of ME),
software developers(the same reason as hardware), and software resellers
(because it made the software look inferior when it was not). As far as your
response to my post, it seems to me you didnt read that post of mine
closely, the problems we have with Me has nothing to do with our software.
It's not even our software, it is the software we resale, as I said in the
post. This software company has over 25,000 resellers worldwide. This
software, furthermore, was written in early 2000, not an older application
mind you. I think you just skimmed my post. The main points of the post are
that the same software works in all OS's, including the new Windows XP,
without what had to be done to get it to keep window focus. just in Windows
ME. This is not to mention programs and development tools, some of which
were shareware products, that would not launch the same way in ME, as they
would in 95,98, 98SE, 2000 family and now even in XP. When you add in the
time to put it on at the sites, explain why it was needed in the first
place, and then add in the need to manage another OS's drivers and new bugs,
it made it a complete waste. The other main point that you did not get out
of my post, is that after November, those updates to ME will stop, unless it
is a major issue, and when they buy a new Operating System, most must buy XP
Professional. Please re-read that section. And no, not all small companies
can afford or justify spending $200 to upgrade only a year later. Not every
company has an unlimited budget. In smaller businesses, the PC's are not the
most impotant thing money-wise in their budget. There is a weaker economy
now than in the past. That's reality. If they are on a domain, they are
screwed as well now because XP Home will not join a domain. Are they telling
people of that limitation? Nope. You either have to dig around microsoft.com
or the internet, or you have to go to a Microsoft Technet session. And they
buy it dumbly and expect it to work? Yes, smaller family owned companies
make those decisions on their own and only get your help after something
doesn't work. That is also reality. Now, they will have no choice whatsoever
in the matter. They must buy XP Professional. Why must they? Because Win98
and ME will no longer be available, they have to have some kind of OS and
you can't buy an upgrade to XP Professional on a new PC. Since most local
stores and chains only come preinstalled with the home versions of the
software, they must buy it from someone that can put XP Professional on it.
No more going out to the local store to buy a computer. Plain and simple,
small businesses get screwed.
I'm very happy for you that you had no problems with ME and it actually
worked better than 98SE. I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. If it
ain't broke, then don't fix it. That just never happened it any situation we
have faced or seen comments on, from home users to workgroup LANs to domain
controlled environments, and to us, that made Windows Me a waste. I'm not
going to debate this further either. People can take what I've said in these
posts and get what they want out of it. If they don't agree, then fine. That
is their right.
Regards, Phillip
<snip> for space
