The Times: Tech column - Windows XP reviewed
By David Rowan
After 16 years' development, Windows XP delivers Microsoft's fastest, most stable and easiest-to-use operating system yet. So why does it feel as though it was inspired by the Teletubbies?
From start-up you enter a LaLa-land of uncrowded bright-blue desktops, huge sticker-book icons and dialogue boxes with rounded, child-friendly edges. A simplified start menu highlights just five of your preferred programs, your files are kept in folders with names such as "my music", and various "wizards" promise to simplify tasks such as transferring preferences from another machine. Who would have guessed that powering this Smart car is a BMW engine?
This is a powerful collection of software that resolves many of the weaknesses of Windows 2000 and Windows Me. To work well, it demands a relatively recent PC with at least a 300MHz processor, a good 4GB of disk space and upwards of 128MB of memory, preferably double that.
Windows users should notice improved performance, particularly an absence of crashes (this one is based on NT). When an application does crash, at least XP has the courtesy to say: "We are sorry for the inconvenience", and offer to tell Microsoft about the problem.
Your PC will be doing a good deal of talking to Microsoft, if the company has its way. For XP marks its shift away from being merely the world's biggest software company towards dominating the nascent market in Internet-based services. It prominently promotes Microsoft's Web-based programs, such as Passport, Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer, and is designed to fit into the .Net platform through which you will in future subscribe to Microsoft's software for your phone as well as your PC.
Install XP - a fairly smooth operation that should take about an hour - and you gain an early indication of how Mr Gates will seek to own your data. For one, he will not allow you to use it for more than 30 days unless you phone or e-mail his company to identify you. This "product activation" process has been condemned by privacy groups as anti-consumer: it allows the company to collect information about your machine that it updates for itself over the Web. If it detects too many changes in your hardware, for instance, it may make you phone back to reactivate. Microsoft says this is necessary to prevent piracy and ensure your software remains only on your machine. Note that if you want to install it on a second PC, such as a laptop, you will need to buy, and activate, a second licence.
In terms of performance, XP should satisfy most earlier Windows users. Though hungrier for system resources, it is also faster: in independent trials by eTesting Labs, XP performed a third faster than Windows 2000 and started up applications 25 per cent faster than Windows 98. The company says it is compatible with 90 per cent of earlier software, but its website (www.microsoft.com) lets you download a free "Upgrade Advisor" to verify your existing machine before committing.
Two versions are on offer: XP Home Edition, designed for the family, and Professional, offering additional functions such as greater support for mobile computing; for most small-business users, the extra advantages may not justify the price differential. With both, you benefit from what Microsoft calls its new "intelligent user interface" (Mac users have enjoyed these for years): it is straightforward, for instance, to burn a CD by dragging and dropping files on the desktop. One clever trick is "Fast User Switching", which lets various people use the computer as if it were their own, without the need to save files or close applications. A mother, for instance, will be able to check her e-mails, and then switch back in an instant to her daughter's homework.
Windows Media Player has been improved to let you record music and listen to Internet radio stations, and XP makes it straightforward to organise and share photos and video. Windows Movie Maker, for instance, has clearly learnt from the simplicity of Apple's hugely popular iMovie. Instant video messaging will also prove a hit. And if you run into problems, a "System Restore" facility lets you switch back to an earlier step without losing data.
If you are planning to buy a new PC - and boy, how the IT sector needs people like you today - then it makes sense to choose XP over an earlier version of Windows. Those already set up with NT, Windows 2000 or even Windows 98 should, however, think carefully whether better design and somewhat faster operation are worth the extra investment. The home version of XP will cost you about £170, or £90 to upgrade; the Professional version is £250 or £165. And that's apart from the longer-term cost of extending Microsoft's monopoly into the online-services market.
(The Times, October 25 2001)
After 16 years' development, Windows XP delivers Microsoft's fastest, most stable and easiest-to-use operating system yet. So why does it feel as though it was inspired by the Teletubbies?
From start-up you enter a LaLa-land of uncrowded bright-blue desktops, huge sticker-book icons and dialogue boxes with rounded, child-friendly edges. A simplified start menu highlights just five of your preferred programs, your files are kept in folders with names such as "my music", and various "wizards" promise to simplify tasks such as transferring preferences from another machine. Who would have guessed that powering this Smart car is a BMW engine?
This is a powerful collection of software that resolves many of the weaknesses of Windows 2000 and Windows Me. To work well, it demands a relatively recent PC with at least a 300MHz processor, a good 4GB of disk space and upwards of 128MB of memory, preferably double that.
Windows users should notice improved performance, particularly an absence of crashes (this one is based on NT). When an application does crash, at least XP has the courtesy to say: "We are sorry for the inconvenience", and offer to tell Microsoft about the problem.
Your PC will be doing a good deal of talking to Microsoft, if the company has its way. For XP marks its shift away from being merely the world's biggest software company towards dominating the nascent market in Internet-based services. It prominently promotes Microsoft's Web-based programs, such as Passport, Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer, and is designed to fit into the .Net platform through which you will in future subscribe to Microsoft's software for your phone as well as your PC.
Install XP - a fairly smooth operation that should take about an hour - and you gain an early indication of how Mr Gates will seek to own your data. For one, he will not allow you to use it for more than 30 days unless you phone or e-mail his company to identify you. This "product activation" process has been condemned by privacy groups as anti-consumer: it allows the company to collect information about your machine that it updates for itself over the Web. If it detects too many changes in your hardware, for instance, it may make you phone back to reactivate. Microsoft says this is necessary to prevent piracy and ensure your software remains only on your machine. Note that if you want to install it on a second PC, such as a laptop, you will need to buy, and activate, a second licence.
In terms of performance, XP should satisfy most earlier Windows users. Though hungrier for system resources, it is also faster: in independent trials by eTesting Labs, XP performed a third faster than Windows 2000 and started up applications 25 per cent faster than Windows 98. The company says it is compatible with 90 per cent of earlier software, but its website (www.microsoft.com) lets you download a free "Upgrade Advisor" to verify your existing machine before committing.
Two versions are on offer: XP Home Edition, designed for the family, and Professional, offering additional functions such as greater support for mobile computing; for most small-business users, the extra advantages may not justify the price differential. With both, you benefit from what Microsoft calls its new "intelligent user interface" (Mac users have enjoyed these for years): it is straightforward, for instance, to burn a CD by dragging and dropping files on the desktop. One clever trick is "Fast User Switching", which lets various people use the computer as if it were their own, without the need to save files or close applications. A mother, for instance, will be able to check her e-mails, and then switch back in an instant to her daughter's homework.
Windows Media Player has been improved to let you record music and listen to Internet radio stations, and XP makes it straightforward to organise and share photos and video. Windows Movie Maker, for instance, has clearly learnt from the simplicity of Apple's hugely popular iMovie. Instant video messaging will also prove a hit. And if you run into problems, a "System Restore" facility lets you switch back to an earlier step without losing data.
If you are planning to buy a new PC - and boy, how the IT sector needs people like you today - then it makes sense to choose XP over an earlier version of Windows. Those already set up with NT, Windows 2000 or even Windows 98 should, however, think carefully whether better design and somewhat faster operation are worth the extra investment. The home version of XP will cost you about £170, or £90 to upgrade; the Professional version is £250 or £165. And that's apart from the longer-term cost of extending Microsoft's monopoly into the online-services market.
(The Times, October 25 2001)
posted by David Rowan at Thursday, October 25, 2001
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