Do I still need it with a firewall and virus checker? I also regularly clean out the spyware? XP never seems to cause me any problems and I am reluctant to fix something that evidently doesn't need fixing.
I don't see why you wouldn't update to it. Of course, I'd probably wait a little bit and see how it goes for other people first, but I do that because I'm cautious ;0)
The only thing I see with this rev is directX 9.0c. Other than that, I am well protected. I dont need microsoft controlling more of this PC. I would switch this one to Linux, however, it is my gaming PC.
You can turn off the firewall if you choose to. They have made the default setting to be with the firewall on, for all those millions of users who don't want to cope with technical questions. But you can turn it off if you have a firewall you like better. Or you can use both.
You'll just have to dig into it a little and find out where to turn these settings on and off.