Intro(Back to the top
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Project whistler began back
when Windows NT was created, a very strong competitive operating
system that made its own market, but there was a little problem:
It wasn't exactly user friendly. So guys in MS thought of an OS with
the power of NT, but user friendly, and that's how Windows 95 was
created. It didn't have much of NTs abilities, but it sure was user
friendly! It sold millions of copies, and why not? the first operating
system that was very easy to use and it was pretty too!; but boys
in MS knew better than that, "the mother of all bugs!" and that
wasn't all. It was said to be a 32-bit system, but it wasn't exactly
32-bit!. So that's how Win98 came out 3 years later, less bugs,
full 32-bit structure. 1 more step closer to NT. The next year Windows
98se came out, and it still is "The perfect" not many bugs,
built-in Internet Explorer 5.0 and DirectX 5.0. It was a fair OS, but
Microsoft thought the looks are getting old, on both NT and 98.
In year 2000, two new versions
of NT and 98 came out, 2000 as NT and Me as 98. Me wasn't a great
hit in the technical issue, more bugs!, but 2000 was a great hit.
Not many bugs, new features and recovery tools made Windows 2000
one of the best platforms around, for both Server and professional
use.
By this time, NT and 98(2000
and Me) were exactly the same in looks and general tools, but not
in performance. Now everyone is talking about 'Project-whistler'.
The new OS is built from scratch, based on NT, with everything good
about Me.
Good Stuff
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You can see the
good stuff right from the beginning, like Win 2000/NT you
have the option to change your fat table to NTFS, an advanced FAT
system that actually hides your C drive and protects you from many
viruses. The good stuff continue to show when you make your first
boot, Windows XP professional is the fastest version of windows ever
built. When it first loads you will surely notice the BIG change
in the looks and how everything feels. When you start working around
you will be introduced to some of Me and 2000 features, and some
new ones. Win95/98/98se users will find out they no longer need ACDsee,
Zipmagic or winzip. They also find out they can throw away all their
driver disks, WinXP has the most complete driver library. Windows
XP has very beautiful built-in wallpapers, screen savers and themes.
Various new options in security and communication give the ability
to do tons of things from encryption to live assistance from your
friend and accessing your computer from a remote location.
Bad Stuff
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If its Microsoft, then its bugs! Windows XP doesn't have any critical
bugs (oh my god!) but there are some minor bugs that will bother
you. Microsoft provided some driver updates which you can download
from the web site. Most bugs are in drivers and with all the
patches, there are still some bugs in the drivers, especially for
the CD-RW. The major bug house is in Internet Explorer 6.0, which
broke the record and has more bugs than IE 5.1 and the worst part
is, since Windows Explorer is built upon Internet Explorer 6.0,
you can not uninstall it (That's another bug!) and the best thing
to do is to switch your default browser from IE to Opera or Netscape.
If you are using IE 5.5 you better know that your browser is the
best one yet in IE series.
Another
(stupid!) problem with XP is that you no longer have the DOS shell
on startup, so if you screwed something up, you better fixed in safemode,
or you'll be needing a startup disk!
Windows
(MSN) messenger is a very useful tool for any user and with its new
features in WinXP, its even better, but until this document was
written (November 18, 2001) there is no update available for none-XP
users and because of the new technology used in Windows messenger,
you can't 'talk' to a MSN messenger 'buddies'
Most
(old) programs are compatible with WinXP, but still there are some
special types of programs that are not, like Zipmagic 2000 and Visual
Studio .NET beat 1
Overall
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overall, I'll give it a 7/10 and that's a whole -1 point just for
Internet (Windows) Explorer bugs (If IE 6.1 comes out, I'll make it 8/10!). So if
your a casual or professional user, I say "Go Get IT!"
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