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February, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 11 |
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sometimes easier than hopping back and forth between two computers. * Better help. It's easier to navigate, integrates information from the Microsoft Knowledge Base, and includes links to a number of diagnostic tools. (Of course, it doesn't have all the answers. You still need our book!) There are dozens of other enhancements--built-in CD burning, built-in ZIP file support, Windows Media Player, Movie Maker, etc. etc.--but those listed above are the ones that I personally find useful. What’s Wrong with XP? Not Much What's wrong with Windows XP; we promised to talk about "what bites" but some felt we didn't deliver. That's because there really isn't much I don't like; here's my full list: * Windows product activation (WPA). I dislike it on principle, but in practice it's not a problem for me or for most users. It's anonymous, and it's a one-time operation that involves clicking Next a few times to get through a wizard--and then you never think about it again. Windows does NOT phone home on its own at any time to confirm your activation status, as has been reported. But as Ed mentioned, it's a classic Microsoft version 1.0 product. If you want to avoid activation altogether, get XP preinstalled on your next computer from a major OEM vendor like Dell. Those versions of XP do not have product activation, so it'll never kick in when you change a number of components in your system--one of the major flaws in the current implementation. You should be aware, however, that Windows XP versions from major manufacturers are linked to the system BIOS--which means, for example, that you can't take the Windows XP CD that comes with your Dell and install it on a Gateway or a white box system. * Price. Now that MS is enforcing the one copy/one machine limitation (it's always been part of the license agreement, but they've never had a way to prevent people from copying to all machines until WPA), I think the price--at least for copies after the first one--should be significantly lower, say $50-75 for Home, twice that for Pro. OTOH, it is a pretty good value, even at $100/$200. * Messenger and Passport in your face. I use them constantly, so it doesn't bother me that they always start. But I'd be frustrated if I didn't want to use them and discovered how difficult it is to vanquish them. * UI is too chummy in some respects. Wizards have replaced some dialog boxes, advanced options are now further buried, etc. As a power user who knows his way around, these slow me down. Fortunately, there aren't many of these impediments in the areas that I use frequently. * Support for "legacy" hardware. Some people mentioned HP products in particular, but there are a number of unsupported products that are not that old. Microsoft has always left device driver development to hardware manufacturers, and it supplies plenty of support to manufacturers. It's clearly in Microsoft's best interest to have all hardware supported. Manufacturers, however, don't have any incentive (other than the wrath heaped on them by disgruntled customers) to provide drivers for discontinued products; they'd prefer that you buy their latest and greatest. Regardless of whose fault it is, it's a real problem that affects all of us consumers. * Networking. It's a little difficult to set up a mixed network--one with Windows XP and Windows 9x workstations. (But it's not impossible, and the steps to successful networking are fully documented in our book!) Windows XP Home Edition uses only the Simple File Sharing model, which is indeed simple, but also somewhat inflexible. You can set up a folder to be private (so that only your user account can access it, either when logged on locally or over the network) or you can share it with everyone. But you can't, for example, easily set up a shared folder that you and your |
