Win 2k vs Win XP

[Guest casper508]

Didnt want to hijack Richy's thread so here goes...

Longhorn look good I must say. Seems I might be upgrading when the release version comes out. About time as well as im still using win2k.

But IMHO Win2kPro is the most stable Win OS i've used to date, XP included. Agreed that XP gives you some cool multimedia features but when it comes to driver related matters specially signing and finding drivers for older hardware, XP sucks IMO.

The few months I used XP, i couldnt use my scanner and the webcam together. Had to uninstall the webcam inorder to use it.

Installing modems (non USB) can also be a pain at time in XP.

So those of you who have used 2k and XP, how do you compare the two specially with respect to drivers? Which one would you rather have?

Cas

[Guest Richie M]

Er, well i use 2k at work and XP at home (we'll forget about Longhorn eh?)

To be honest i've never had a problem with drives or anything with XP, i have heard a few people say about USB Modems but as i have Cable it's not an issue for me :lol:

One of the cool things with XP is the Compatability modes, that did save me with older programs when XP first came out - but as a rule if it works with 2k it'll work with XP (including drivers as far as i know, ie when an XP driver isn't available (which is very rare now) your best using a 2k driver as opposed to 9x)

I prefer XP, but i have had 2k & XP both crash out - making me soft boot ;)

[Guest casper508]

You are right about 2k drivers working for XP. Infact at times all that differs is the file name. But as I said its the older hardware that gives the problem.

Frankly I wouldn't like to upgrade just for the OS!

Cas

[Guest Emad]

My comp came with XP Home, which although quite nice, is a bit of a joke in some ways - setting up sharing allocations on a LAN? Forget about it. Very annoying things like that.

In the end I went back to 2k Pro.. The only downside is now my desktop isn't all nicely skinned (I had made my XP desktop look like Mac OSX :lol:) and I can't play CM 97/98 or my vast collection of DOS games any more. My productivity has gone up soooo much and not a single crash..

[Guest casper508]

setting up sharing allocations on a LAN?

Tell me about it!! Specially when other PCs dont run XP.

My laptop runs 2k and one of the reasons I went back to 2k on PC was I couldnt get netsharing/filesharing to work.

Cas

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Filesharing on XP works really well, once you work out how to tell it to stop being so insanely stupid...

:lol:

[Guest Richie M]

Oh yeah i forgot; Internet Connection sharing set-up can be really tempremental on XP :lol:

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Never done it. That's what routers are for :lol:

[Guest Richie M]

Never done it.  That's what routers are for ;)

Humph :(

Yeah but routers are expensive compared to using ICS;

3 network card £15

1 meter x-over cable £3

1 Mb NTL Cable £39.99 pm

Getting it all working first time - Priceless

:lol:

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

1 meter crossover? :lol:

[Guest Richie M]

:oops: was meant to be - 1 Metre X-Over (Cable)

[Guest Matt Whitfield]

I've stuck to Win2K Pro even though my laptop came with XP Home as XP Home is a bit sucky.

However, reports from a friend of mine who runs his own company suggest that XP Pro is as good as Win2K Pro once you've turned off all that XP look and feel rubbish. He says stability wise XP Pro is as good as he's ever had Win2K Pro running.

XP Home probably still sucks tho (but I wouldn't know)... it's like Win '95 and Win '97, crippled OSes...

And Longhorn is going to be the same as all Windows OSes... don't use it until at least SP2!!! :shock:

[Guest Emad]

Win '97? I have Windows ME on one of my computers actually.. Despite the horrendous reviews it gets, it actually crashes less than any other OS for me - AND its the box my family use. Odd.

Windows XP Pro is like a prettier Win2k - I really, really didn't want to part with a big wodge of my cash for the sake of prettiness though.. That and it seemed to have an odd conflict with my CD-RW - at random times it would try to access it and freeze completely. Very strange.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

XP Home is XP pro with certain "features" turned off...

WinME depends on whether it agrees with your hardware setup or not. It ran fairly stable on my old 500mhz K6-2, but i've heard horrendous scare stories.

Btw, for all users on XP, turn the shineyness off and you'll be amazed at how much more responsive everything feels. (for some reason it took 6 months for the shineyness to irritate me, i've got it off now and i've no idea why i didnt do it before :lol:)

[Guest amo]

Win Xp home is XP Pro without advanced networking features

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Yep, try adding XP home to a domain for example... :lol:

[Guest Matt Whitfield]

Doh... Win '97, what am I talking about??? Win '98, that other crap MS OS is what I was really trying to say... ;-)

[Guest fraser]

Another thing missing from the Home version of XP is the remote access server. Another thing you won't use...who needs dial in when you have a cable modem at home?

[Guest HelloDave]

I use Win 2K, which has been very stable for the past 18 months, bearing in mind I tend to "tweak" my PC a lot, the main problem I get is explorer (the shell) crashes rather too regularly which is a bit annoying. At uni I have the PC running 24/7 and it generally manges 7-14 days uptime before I tweak something that requires a reboot. I have had a few odd problems with 2K - it mysteriously "lost" boot.ini a few months ago, the registry hive disappeared once, and it's refused to boot a few times becuase I installed the wrong driver for my TV card (OK, so I ignored the warning dialog!) which meant arsing about in the recovery console.

I use ICS with a laptop running XP home over a wireless LAN and it works OK, although I haven't bothered to set up filesharing yet - I just can't be bothered! Ironic that I still transfer files using floppies or MSN messenger becuase I'm too lazy to set things up! Personally I don't think XP is much better than 2K, though I haven't used it extensively - it does try to hold your hand too much (that really bugs me with anything!) and you feel you're not totally in control with some things. I'm sure breaking the control panel up into "tasks" is great from a Human Centred Design point of view, but it just p***es me off; first thing that got disabled! The built in CD writing is crap too, and I don't really like the way multiple program windows are bunched into one taskbar button. Weirdly the best thing in XP for me is the customizable system tray, where you can hide icons - IMO it's the only useful implementation of M$'s "customizable menus" (other examples being hidden options in Office 2K's menus, XP start menu etc). I use a little app to do the same thing in 2K, but it's a bit temperemental!