Intro

Pane 3.11

I remember the first Windows operating system I ever installed - 3.11. Thrill wasn't exactly the first feeling that went through my mind; although, chills might have gone through my body. In fact, my first order of operations was to remove the exec line for Windows in the autoexec.bat. Having owned a Mac before and used DOS for quite some time, I wasn't exactly prepared to use a crappy mixture of the two. Aside from typing the occasional paper in Windows, I was perfectly content using DOS. It wasn't until Win95 that I was able to stomach what Microsoft called a GUI; even then, I was apprehensive. Slowly but surely I was won over by this wondrous new toy. Once the games were churned out for 95, I was hooked like a baby on smack.

Control Panel

The big one

Now we have the newest iteration of Windows, an attempt to fuse the two major operating systems - 98SE and 2K. If I recall correctly, Win2k was supposed to be the hybrid OS, the great blender if you will. Now that task falls to Windows XP, an attempt to seamlessly integrate 9x into the NT kernel. As you probably know by now, "Up time" is one feature that has somehow been omitted from the Win9x line of OSs. Even the latest release on the 9x kernel hasn't exactly been exciting - Windows ME came out with bad driver support and increased bloat. No surprise that most of us stick with 98. Will XP be the "one"?

We've had quite a bit of fun with Windows XP so far. To get it out of the way we'll say right from the start that we don't have any performance numbers, as they would be rather pointless at this juncture. The mere fact that we are playing with a Beta copy means there is no reason. Aside from not having optimized, or even specific drivers, for anything, the OS isn't even complete. We can tell you all about the new-fangled stuff though.

What are programs?

Interesting side bar

I scream

Kicking the whole thing off Baskin Robins style, Windows XP will be offered in quite a variety of flavors. For the common user, there are two versions - Home and Pro. Home is essentially meant for the masses, while Pro is relegated to replace Win2K as the staple stable operating system for companies. Other versions will be branded as Windows 2002; those strains will be meant for the advanced server market. Today we'll just be previewing the Home and Pro versions of the upcoming OS.