Discover Windows XP

With the October release of Windows XP, Microsoft pushes Windows into the next phase of the OS's evolution. The company has designed XP to replace not only Windows 2000 and Windows NT but also Windows Me and Windows 9x. Like Win2K—its direct predecessor—XP is based on the 32-bit NT kernel. Unlike Win2K, however, XP is earmarked for both the corporate environment and the home user. XP also marks the first time that Microsoft has separated the client (XP) and server (Windows .NET Server—formerly code-named Whistler) OSs' development paths. To determine whether you should upgrade your corporate desktop to XP, you need to know about the new OS's significant new features. (To learn about my 10 favorite XP features, see Top 10, "Cool New Features in Windows XP," page 127.)

Microsoft is introducing three versions of XP: XP Home Edition, XP Professional, and XP 64-Bit Edition. XP Home, which Microsoft intends for home and small-business users, is essentially an upgrade from Win9x. The company is targeting XP Pro toward business users who currently run Win2K Professional or NT Workstation 4.0. Although both XP Home and XP Pro are based on the same system kernel, the business-oriented XP Pro provides a superset of the features that XP Home provides. Figure 1, page 38, lists the XP Pro features that you won't find in XP Home. You can purchase both XP Home and XP Pro through retail channels, preloaded on a computer, or in volume directly from Microsoft. To obtain XP 64-Bit Edition, you must buy a preloaded 64-bit Intel Itanium system from a sanctioned PC manufacturer, such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, IBM, or Compaq.

System Requirements and New Hardware Support
Not surprisingly, XP Home and XP Pro's system requirements are nearly identical to those of Win2K Pro. Table 1 lists Microsoft's minimum and recommended system requirements. In typical Microsoft style, the minimum requirements—particularly the RAM requirement—are understated. As is the case with Win2K, an adequate amount of system RAM is essential for obtaining reasonable XP performance. I tested XP Pro on a 450MHz system with 128MB of RAM and on a 1.2GHz system with 128MB of RAM, and the OS performed impressively on both systems. As a general rule, if Win2K is performing well on your current system, XP will also perform well on that system.

As you might expect, XP supports the current crop of system hardware, such as high-performance ATA100 hard disks, IEEE 1394 FireWire connections, and CD-R and CD-RW devices. XP's ability to burn CD-Rs and CD-RWs eliminates the need for third-party CD-authoring software. (To burn a CD, you simply use Windows Explorer to select the desired files, then drag the files to the icon that represents your CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD-RAM drive.) In addition, Microsoft has incorporated the ability to burn CDs into Windows Media Player (WMP) and the NT Backup utility. XP also provides support for FAT32 on DVD-RAM; however, native support for the latest DVD-RW devices isn't available in the base product.

System Setup and Upgrade
Home users who currently run Windows Me or Win98 will typically upgrade to XP Home. Business users who currently run Win2K Pro or NT Workstation 4.0 will typically upgrade to XP Pro. However, if you're using Win95 or other earlier Windows versions, you won't be able to upgrade to XP. Instead, you'll need to perform a fresh installation. Figure 2 illustrates Microsoft's supported upgrade paths to XP.

XP's setup routine, like Win2K's, is simple and straightforward. If your computer is connected to a network, the setup process requests the name of your computer, the name of your workgroup or domain, and—if the network doesn't use a DHCP server—your system's TCP/IP address. By default, an XP installation on a domain system disables XP's Fast User Switching feature, which lets multiple users share one system. Instead, in a domain installation, the system displays at reboot an updated version of a Windows logon dialog box. The entire manual setup process takes about 30 minutes. As with Win2K Pro, you can use Remote Installation Services (RIS) to install the OS from a remote server and you can run an unattended setup. In some cases, which I describe later, product activation will be necessary after installation. For additional information about product activation, see the sidebar "Windows Product Activation."

As a side note, if you're performing an XP upgrade on a Win2K system that has existing file shares, the system will disable the file shares after the upgrade. To fix this problem, you'll need to run the Network Setup Wizard (to inform the system that you plan to share files) or manually re-enable each share. Microsoft's response to this behavior is that it is an intentional security feature.

The XP UI
Microsoft has designed XP's new task-oriented UI (unofficially named Luna) so that novice users can more easily perform common tasks. However, if you're an experienced Win2K or NT 4.0 user, the usability changes will probably annoy you. Several familiar items (e.g., Administrative Tools, the My Computer icon) have moved. Also, the new UI tends to require more mouse clicks and screen navigation than the earlier Windows UIs do. In general, though, you'll find many more familiar items than changes. Users who are familiar with Win2K, Windows Me, or Win98 will have little trouble adjusting to XP's interface. The new UI is cleaner than ever before: By default, it displays only one icon—the Recycle Bin—on the desktop. The XP UI features larger graphical icons, a redesigned Start menu, and a soft blue background palette in its default configuration. Figure 3 shows XP's Start menu.

The Start menu's two upper left positions are now the fixed locations for your system's default Web browser and email client. You can use any Web browser and email program—they don't necessarily need to be Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and Microsoft Outlook Express. Frequently used programs appear automatically in the Start menu's lower left portion. Icons for WMP, MSN Explorer, Windows Movie Maker, and Tour Windows XP appear by default, but you can manually remove these menu options. You use the All Programs option to access installed applications. The items on the Start menu's right side offer the same basic functionality as they offer on the Win2K Start menu. The accessibility of Control Panel from the top level of the Start menu is a particularly welcome change.

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