Windows XP, Is It Worth It?

Windows XP was officially released in October 25th, 2001 and was the most anticipated release of Windows yet. Some of the reasons Microsoft hyped this OS so much was it's "stability", "ease of use", and "improvement over previous versions of Windows". It has a flashy new interface, new functions and features, and out of the box is supposed to be an all-purpose operating system.

With that out of the way, let me start explaining why I think this new OS is crap in a fancy box. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice OS, but are the improvements really so big that it requires 1.5 Gigs of hard drive space, 128 megs of Ram for the OS alone, and a 400 Mhz processor to take full advantage of all its features? That's crazy… Microsoft makes it a point to create bloatware at every turn of the road.
Okay, now that my true feelings for this OS are on the table, let me mention some of the things I did like about it…

• For one, I like the ability to right-click on any file or folder and send it to the CDRW. This is a cool feature, but let me warn you, there is no audio support… only data. Another feature I like along these lines is ripping CD's, but you'd better get an WMA to MP3 converter because XP only writes in WMA format.
• I also like the Remote Administration feature. If you run into problems and need a friend to lend a hand, turn this on and shoot them an email. It works similar to PC Anywhere or sharing the desktop in Netmeeting (which I've done in the past to help friends).
• There are lots of added shortcut keys… like locking the desktop with Windows-L and Control-click Turn Off to shut the system down. These are time savers.
• Also, it's more secure then Windows 98 since it can use NTFS. You can secure folders on the system from snooping eyes. I must say that it's much easier to secure stuff on Windows 2000 then on XP from what I've seen.
• There's also some other stuff they added that's no good… like a 'personal firewall'. Get Zone Alarm or a Linksys router if you want a real one. There's also the Movie Maker program. This simply cuts and pastes video clips together. Get MGI's Videowave for a real video editor. It at least does wicked effects.

Now that I've touched on what I liked, here's some of the stuff I really don't care for.

• For one, what's up with the Fisher-Price interface? All the fancy bubbles and bright colors make me feel like I'm on a Mac. Luckily you can turn this off.
• Another thing I don't care for is all the "help" it tries to offer. When I try to change my network settings, I get a wizard. When I try to look for a network drive, I get a wizard. When I try to change my fax settings, I get a wizard. Heck, when I hit my caps lock key to log in, I get a bubble message telling me my caps lock is down. This is crazy. Do they think monkeys are running these things? They need something that on login asks if you're a dumb ass or not. If so, turn this stuff on and if not, leave it off.

On the technical side, I don't like the way XP eats up every available kilobyte of memory. I have a Pentium III-500 with 128 Megs of Ram runnin XP. This system came with Windows NT 4.0 and ran super fast out of the box. I upgraded to Windows 2000 Pro when it came out and lost a little performance, but it still ran great. Now that I have XP loaded, I'm hitting the page file just opening up Outlook after startup. What's with that? I'm having to upgrade my system to 512 Megs of Ram to just keep the darned thing running at a decent speed.

Your probably asking yourself "Why doesn't this dork just go back to Windows 2ooo Pro?". Well, good question. For one, I am one who likes to play with the latest because somewhere down the line I have to support it. Microsoft's game plan is to get everyone on the newest version of everything as soon as it comes out (which is usually every 6-12 months). Since Windows XP is now out, I'm soon expecting to see 2000 Pro no longer being offered on new desktops. Once that happens, we need to support XP, and what better way to learn it then to use it.

Bottom line is that on a buffed up system - P4 1 Ghz or higher with at least 512 Megs of Ram, XP will run well. And if you can turn off all the wizards, shortcuts, and download all the patches required to make your software to work, then it's worth playing with. But for me, I took it off my home PC and went back to 98 SE. At least my scanner, printer, compact flash card reader, and camera work with that "old operating system".
My suggestion for those of you who are considering an upgrade to XP? If you've got a very powerful system and lots of memory and drive space, go for it. Just make sure your peripherals have drivers for Windows XP and all your software works. If you have Windows 98 SE or Windows 2000 Pro and it works fine… stick with it. Other then some added perks (which you can get with add-on software), it's not worth the cost.

Sources:

• Personal Experience with installing XP on about a dozen systems and working with it for almost 4 months.
• System Requirements - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/sysreqs.asp
• TechTV Product Review - http://www.techtv.com/products/software/story/0,23008,3356175,00.html
• More info on XP - http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/rstories/0,3040,e7111217,00.html

Palm Vx Review

Well, a little over 2 years ago, I decided to take the leap and get a PDA (Personal Data Assistant). At the time, there were two popular types available: the Palm Pilot or Windows CE devices. Both variants did basically the same thing: keep track of calendar, tasks, email, and memos, sync with Outlook, and be portable. The only thing was that the CE Devices were color, played MP3's, and looked sharper.

After much debate, I saved my hard earned pennies and purchased an HP Jornada 430se. It was much thicker then a Palm Pilot (almost an inch thick), but it doubled as an MP3 player and had some nice perks. The problems were its bulky size, slow speed, and its tendency to lock-up (it wouldn't be Microsoft if it didn't do this).

I used it for about a year and boxed it. Now, 2 years later, I decided again to get a PDA. I'd setup many newer Pocket PC devices and many Palm Pilots, so I knew what was out there. After more debate, plus a great price after Thanksgiving, I decided on the Palm Vx. This isn't the newest model of Palms, but it's the thinnest Palm available and has the biggest screen. It also has 8 Megs of memory, which for a Palm is a lot.
After getting this little booger out of its package and connecting it to my desktop, Chapura's Pocket Mirror installed with no problems. Since I use Outlook XP, I chose Custom and didn't install the Expense or Palm Desktop components. In about 5 minutes, I was syncing and ready to go.

Thought I'd helped many users with their Palms, this was my first time to really play with one for an extended amount of time. The more I used this thing the more I liked it. Granted, the black text on grey background was a far cry from my old Jornada, but it was easier to read outside, its internal lithium ion batteries charged on its own and lasted forever (the Jornada 430 lasted maybe 1-2 hours at most), and it was very stable.
I immediately downloaded AvantGo and started syncing channels and off-line content. I also went to Mapquest and downloaded some maps to common-traveled places. Everything went smooth.

Beaming is also a synch. A co-worker and I beamed games and contacts back and forth between my Vx and his M100. This was much easier then the way Windows CE did it.

The first hitch I ran into was one Sunday when I pulled it out to check some dates, it acted very funky. The scroll buttons scrolled two pages at a time and it wouldn't turn off once I turned it on. The next day, I called Best Buy and they said they had no more in stock, so I started playing with it in hopes that I could resolve the issue myself. After tinkering with it, I found that the contrast button had become hung down. After unwegging this, all worked fine.

Another problem that might arise with Office XP users and Office 2000 users who have installed the latest security patches is that Outlook now thinks that eveything is a virus. Whenever you sync your Palm with Outlook, a nice window comes up asking your permission for it to sync. This makes network syncs impossible and requires you to be logged in, sitting at the console for a sync to take place. And if you compose an email on your Palm, a second window comes up asking if you really want this email to be sent on your behalf. These are great security features, but Microsoft has no way of turning them off. My solution was going back to Outlook 2000 with no security patches.

Some have asked me why I want with this Palm Pilot over the new M series. For the most part, I don't like the new series. They have smaller screens, some are made of plastic and feel too fragile, and they just don't look as sharp as the older series. Also, you can do virtually everything on the older ones that the new ones do with some software upgrades.

My suggestion when shopping for a Palm Pilot is not to rush out and purchase an M505 (the latest model). Since most of the Palm Pilots do virtually the same thing, I'd suggest an older model with a bigger screen. If you do need the features which the newer M series offer, I'd suggest getting an M105 or higher. The M100 only has 2 Megs of memory with no native email support. If you do decide to go with an older Palm, I'd avoid the Palms with only 2 megs of Ram, like the III and V (the IIIx and Vx have 8 megs of Ram). Also, the Palm VII has the wireless component and this is way too expensive for most users.

Other links

• Palm Vx Official Website - http://www.palm.com/products/palmvx/
  
• Datasheet on Palm Vx - PDF