Windows 98 vs XP

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Morgeruat: Morguerat on his work comp~~~ Larry in response to WinXP and system upgrades, if your system changes too much (IIRC something like 4 major upgrades) you must purchase a new liscense.

Now you see? That last bit worries me. Is that as true as it sounds, with no exceptions? Why would anyone want XP if you looked forward to always updating your hardware as new technology was introduced?

[Brennihelvete]

I had a very old system for quite a long time. I had a Pentium II 400mhz with 64 MB of RAM for 5 years. I had Windows 98 for 4 and a half year. It tended to crash allot and it almost had me smash my computer with a warhammer + 6 at times... But then I upgraded it a little and got a new HD, some more memory an all and at last Windows XP. I was quite pleased with the first impressions. It looked so much better then the ugly and gray windows 98. My further experience with XP turned out good. It will never crash unless you have a faulty hardware. It works out better with memory. It loads up much faster(I use 10 sec to start up) and it works very well with games and new hardware. As pointed out by others its not perfect but, hey its microsoft, have they EVER made a perfect product? Not even close to. I think its the best operative system out there though it still sucks a bit [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh and heres a horror story from Win 98:
Well I uppgraded my old system to a shiny new one. I got a faulty RAM though so sometimes XP would crash. In the end it didnt work at all. So, I installed WIN 98 to get up internet for some online help. Easier said than done. It would constantly crash and Im sure I reformatted + reinstalled windows about 20 times a week(seriously, not over exaggerating). After a month I got it quite stable until everything went to hell again. Finally I found that it was my RAM that was faulty and ordered a new one. After I got my new memory brick everything has ran smoothly without a single crash since then.

[Judas Maccabeus]

XP is the Great Satan. Why? CIVILIZATION II DOES NOT WORK ON IT!!!

And, I should add, all sorts of mid-to-late-90's games. Some of the real classics, too

[ 02-12-2003, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Judas Maccabeus ]

[Brennihelvete]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Quote: Originally posted by Morgeruat: Morguerat on his work comp~~~ Larry in response to WinXP and system upgrades, if your system changes too much (IIRC something like 4 major upgrades) you must purchase a new liscense.

Now you see? That last bit worries me. Is that as true as it sounds, with no exceptions? Why would anyone want XP if you looked forward to always updating your hardware as new technology was introduced?[/QUOTE]Uh, what? I had Wndows XP installed on my system...Then I uppgraded the whole machine and now its just the Floppy drive thats left of the old one. I then had 9 new components installed. And I have never heard of such a thing that you have to buy a new license if you install new hardware. That must be some sort of a false rumour or something. Also a friend of my, also got WIN XP, he buys new components every month, and he has never heard of it either...

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: One question. Does XP work well with people who constantly upgrade their system, like installing new memory, video cards, sound cards, adding a second HD...etc.? What tells Microsoft that you are running the same XP cd on two PCs? The hardware configuration? So...if I buy some new toys to throw in there, my OS will not work?

NO because every major hardware change you will have to reactivate it! And after 3 activations (as I have heard) you can no longer do it over the web but must do it by phone.

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Quote: Originally posted by Morgeruat: Morguerat on his work comp~~~ Larry in response to WinXP and system upgrades, if your system changes too much (IIRC something like 4 major upgrades) you must purchase a new liscense.

Now you see? That last bit worries me. Is that as true as it sounds, with no exceptions? Why would anyone want XP if you looked forward to always updating your hardware as new technology was introduced?[/QUOTE]That's bollocks I think. As I said in my post above what happens is that you have to reactivate your product over the phone as opposed to over the web. I haven't done this so I'm not sure of the details, but it involves you phoning MS and giving them your product key, name etc. I guess and then they give you a code which unlocks XP so you can continue using it. Of course this is only after a certian number of hardware changes. This is another reason I recommend sticking with 2000 above ANY other MS OS.

Harkoliar - XP is newer than ME. ME is an upgraded version of 98SE. XP is a slightly upgraded (and made worse in many ways) version of 2000.

Larry - I notice you also said that you want to use Windows Media player for watching movies - DON'T. XP's built in firewall allows certain applications through without user knowledge and WMP is one of them. It sends details of all movies you watch to MS's servers. Currently they say they do nothing with this data but they could and I don't like the idea of them having this data anyway. Get BSPlayer - a very slick and versatile player. Also do a search for the Tsunami filter pack - this contains all non-proprietary audio and video codecs allowing BSPlayer to play all types of movies in one program.

Damn, I'm REALLY gonna have to write a document with my view on 98 vs. 2000. vs. XP so I don't have to keep writing it out

[ 02-12-2003, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Quote: Originally posted by Morgeruat: Morguerat on his work comp~~~ Larry in response to WinXP and system upgrades, if your system changes too much (IIRC something like 4 major upgrades) you must purchase a new liscense.

Now you see? That last bit worries me. Is that as true as it sounds, with no exceptions? Why would anyone want XP if you looked forward to always updating your hardware as new technology was introduced?[/QUOTE]This is a major reason you'll never see me with a copy of XPiss. I upgrade my computer more often than I buy new underwear and I refuse to buy additional copies of OS software just because micro$haft thinks it's being cheated of it's fair share of my paycheck. The additional stuff (built-in spyware; online authentication; palladium; micro$hafts business practices) sure do seal the deal...

If they new how many times I used the Win98SE cd to install on a new system I'd bought they'd have a FIT!

[Sir Goulum]

I have no complaints with Win XP, but probably cuz I don't have the internet on it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Harkoliar]

Harkoliar - XP is newer than ME. ME is an upgraded version of 98SE. XP is a slightly upgraded (and made worse in many ways) version of 2000.

thanks... i really wanted to know

I have no complaints with Win XP, but probably cuz I don't have the internet on it

maybe i should also do that!!

[LennonCook]

The only major problem I`ve ever seen with XP is with a Full Install (one of my friends bought a new computer... we can`t actually *BUY* the full version in Aus, only the upgrade).
I have been using an upgraded computer for about 6 months (or more) now, and the only problem i`ve had is to get used to the new interface.

The good thing with XP over any other version is how it handles program errors... it will shut down the program, and tell you that it is going to. Every other windows that i`ve used, if one program causes an error, it will return a Blue Screen, give an error code that means nothing to anyone, and crash the entire machine.

Sometimes you may come across compatibility problems... generally, these aren`t an issue unless you`re playing realy old games...
I have personally had two programs not work on me: The Logical Journey of the Zoombinies, and Quest for Glory V. Neither was anything special anyway.
In most cases, if it is a popular (read: profitable) program, the authors of it will release a version or a patch that is fully compatible with Win XP.
BUT, 98 is often not compatible with newer games.

My advice: if you have good enough System Resources, set up a 98/XP dual-boot.
On the issue of MSN in Win XP; there`s always the option to remove it...

From www.mess.be 1) Go to Start > Run 2) Type this exact commando (you might wanna copy paste): RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove.

On security issues - use a third-party firewall; Zonealarm Pro is good, as it stops both things coming into, and things going out of, your computer without your permission. Main drawback is that it`s costly.

On licensing and Software Activation - you can use your XP disk ONCE, and after that you need to either:
- Buy a new copy of XP.
or
- Activate by some means other than online.

This is as good for you as it is for MS - noone but you can use XP in your name, and MS doesn`t loose profit from people getting it illegally.

[ 02-13-2003, 01:31 AM: Message edited by: LennonCook ]