Windows XP Professional

Windows XP combines the features of two of its predecessors–the industrial strength Windows Professional, and the more user-friendly Windows Me. Plus, there is a host of new features, most of which make computing a lot easier, and some that raise concerns, given the legal and competitive scenario. That said, Windows XP is a compelling product indeed.

The launch date of Windows XP is October 25, 2001, but for this review we were able to get a shipping copy of Windows XP Professional before the launch. The first thing that strikes you is the CD itself. By now, Microsoft seems to have standardized on silver printing on a silver CD surface. The Windows XP CD goes further and incorporates many new elements for identification (particularly of duplicates). The whole surface looks like a hologram with many elements, including the Windows logo, and “Genuine Microsoft” written in very fine print in the background. On the reverse face of the CD, too, such elements have been worked in.

Booting from the CD takes you to a text-based installation screen a-la NT, which also gives you the option of repairing an XP installation. From here, you can also do automated system recovery from recovery floppies.

We decided to upgrade an Athlon 700 MHz machine running Windows 98, and connected a Netware and Windows network to Windows XP. The opening screen gives you three options: Install Windows XP, Perform Additional Tasks, and Check System Compatibility.

The Perform Additional Tasks option gives you three further options: Set up remote desktop connection, Set up home/small office network, and Transfer files and settings. The third option lets you save settings and files from your PC to another drive, including a network drive. You can do this for your existing system before installing XP. Check System Compatibility, as the name suggests, checks whether your current hardware, software and drivers are compatible with XP. When we ran the test, it connected to microsoft.com to check, and threw up a list that included Java Plug-in 1.3.1, MS Outlook 2000 (to be reinstalled), and Fuji Film printer (a Photo printer, we had installed on the test machine).

Once we started the install, the first question it asked was for network connection status, and whether it should join an existing domain; it could not. The total installation took under an hour, and like with Windows 2000, there is no option to customize the install, which is a pity since power users would want to choose what they want to install.

The focus of the release seems to be pictures, music, movies, and the Net. Thus, coming over from Me are the colorful looks and the sharp icons, as well as the Windows movie maker, which is an amateur tool even in a ‘professional’ OS. And having both Internet Explorer and MSN explorer installed without a choice is a bit of an overkill. The fax and picture viewer, on the other hand, is a good tool to do what the name suggests, as well as to run slide shows of graphics files. The lack of a custom install could leave those who want to tweak the system having to achieve their goal in a round about fashion.

The professional version has support for CD recording built in. So, you can save files directly to CD-R or RW. It has a built-in firewall and a messenger (to activate which you need a .net passport account), and supports compressed Zip files without needing any additional utilities like WinZip. Barring the messenger, all others are minimalist–for example, the CD writing is by simply dragging and dropping of files, and you do not have finer control like file formats for professional work. Similarly, the zip (called compressed folders) does not do spanning of multiple disks, etc.

Windows XP does not support 640x480 resolution, or 256 colors or below. For software that needs these settings, or for software that runs only on Windows 95/98 or NT/2000, there is a compatibility mode that you can set by right-clicking on the executable, selecting properties and then selecting the compatibility tab.

Similarly, support for NetBEUI, DLC, and Appletalk has been discontinued, but NetBEUI is available within the value-added folder in the CD. The Windows Task Manager, a carry over from the NT/2000 side of the family tree has a new pane to track network usage.

One of the default accounts created when you install the system is one for Microsoft Support. Although this is disabled by default, it could potentially be a threat to system security, providing one more potential access point for people with malaise into the system.

Windows XP is supposed to be activated within 60 days of installation. While installing, you are told not to activate till you have completed “planned upgrades to fixed hardware and their device drivers”. You can activate over the Net or phone. If you do not, then you are not allowed to proceed beyond the login prompt. When we tried to activate by calling the toll free number from Gurgaon, we could not connect in spite of repeated attempts. The Delhi number (not toll free) was accessible, though.

Overall, the working of the OS was smooth, and we did not come across system crashes that Windows is famous for.

Windows XP seems to be geared towards making computing more colorful and easier, by providing most, if not all the required tools within the OS itself. But that is exactly what has raised concerns about competitiveness, and has led to the ensuing legal

battles.

Krishna Kumar