More GUI

Taskbar Columns

Another addition to the taskbar is the ability to group. Instead of just filling up your space with tons of IE windows and loads of other things, XP can dynamically arrange all the taskbar windows into a column that grows when clicked on. If your taskbar starts to get too cluttered, it will start to tile vertically onto related programs. For instance, once the taskbar feels it is filled up enough, it will vertically arrange all instances of IE with a number next to it, telling you how many windows are stacked. Seems like a handy feature for people that like to keep opening programs.

Back to normal

Corners

Hide and go system tray

Also new are automatically hiding system tray icons, the little guys that represent what programs you have open, like Winamp or the Volume control. If you haven't used one in a while, or rarely ever do, it will simply hide it and leave an arrow pointing to where they are. I guess this would come in handy for all those laptop people, those schmoes always have half a million things running in the background - battery stuff, keyboard stuff, mouse stuff, everything manages to find its way into the system tray.

Round

Foofy?

Along with these enhancements, Windows XP ships with tons of enhancements that leave you lurking about trying to figure out how to turn them off. Shadows, animated windows, text enhancement - most of these are examples of what XP can do with alpha blending on the desktop. I like my OS running naked, no foofy stuff for me.

KlEaRteXT

XP also ships with something called ClearText, apparently this feature is supposed to make text more readable on LCDs. I turned it on for my normal CRT and everything got a little fuzzy. Maybe you really need a LCD to appreciate it.