Need Freeper Input on Computer OPerating Systems

[Maceman]

OK. I've held off as long as I could, but now I REALLY need to upgrade from my 1997 Dell Dimension Desktop with Windows 95. I have decided on a desktop over a laptop, but am unsure about which WINDOWS operating system to get.

I have a home-based consulting business to Fortune-1000 type clients, which requires heavy use of the Internet and MS Office apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and some basic Access). I'm sure that before I buy the next system after this new one, I'll be heavy into video meetings and such (since I don't plan to upgrade again for at least 3-4 years).

I don't need to have any local networking, as I am a one-person shop.

Question: What are your thoughts about Windows 98 vs. Windows 2000 vs. Windows ME vs. Windows XP?

Also, what is the best thing to use for back-ups? Is it a CD-RW? Zip drive? Or is there something better? (The tape drive on my current system just died, so I don't have an easy way to make back-ups at the moment).

I really need the input, and appreciate your help. Thanks.

[Britton J Wingfield]

If you are going to get newer hardware, then go Win2k. XP is sweet but I would stay away until real users have tested the hell out of it. Win2k will solidly support all your business applications. Make sure you get plenty of RAM. 128 will do you fine, but since it is so cheap you might as well get 256+ megs so you can run all your apps at once.

98 and ME are not recommended for business users. I'm finally stamping out the remnants of 9.x systems on my corporate LAN, much to my relief.

[Bogey78O]

About stability. I've noticed different brands are more stable with certain OSs. Despite what some think a motherboard makes a huge diference in performance. You might want to expand your search for good mobos too unless you have a preferred company or proprietary system.

[CheneyChick]

If you want something to last you that long, then go with an OS that is built for the future. You can have the best version of MS Office available....MS Office X for Mac OS X

[filbert]

My mind is all screwed up with acronyms

Ah. Work in IT, do you?

[CheneyChick]

Backup: Tape is best, or external FireWire HD.

[filbert]

Or the military. Or both. Getting silly, time for go to bed.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

A standing rule that I have followed for at least ten years now is to not purchase a new Microsoft product until at least six months after release. I've never had any regrets, and it has spared me trouble more than once.

[GummyIII]

Ya ought to try CISCO (CCNA)...talk about acronyms

[spycatcher]

Definitely go with Windows XP pre-installed (with or without Office XP). It's based on Windows 2000 and easy to use as Windows 98. Been using it myself for several months. Even early betas worked great. Windows 2000 is good, but can crash and burn with crappy software/drivers from companies like Adaptec/Roxio and recovery is difficult. XP is much more forgiving and helpful when it comes to rogue software or rare crashes.

For backups, use Norton Ghost to create a large compressed image to a second drive if you have one. Or image it to a second partition you can create on your existing drive using Partition Magic. Otherwise just burn important files to CD regularly and use Windows XP's handy "system restore" feature for most problems.

You can also get Ghost, along with Norton AV, Disk Doctor etc bundled with Norton Systemworks Pro.

[Fighting Irish]

Windows 2000! And get as much ram memory as you can afford. Life is easier when it's fast. (Suggest DSL also)

I've always wanted to try Linux but am a fraidy cat...

[ikka]

I would stay away from XP and use Win2k if I had to choose which MS OS to use.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Use Office 2000 or higher - Office97 does work but doesn't install well on 2k. If you are keeping current with your clients, you probably need Office2000 anyways.

2. At the same time you are runing Win2k, you should be looking for an out - you can download StarOffice 6.0 and evaluate it for free. In a few months it will be out of beta, and then you can evaluate how good it is. If SO6 is good enough, you can switch to Linux.

[Jolly Green]

I didn't see this posted here, so you might find the following useful. Windows 95 evolved to Windows 98 to Windows ME. All were intended for the home user - typically using a single application. The memory management of this genre was poor at best. Re-booting your computer is typically required once or twice a day.

The industrial strength product line started with Windows NT and evolved to Windows 2000. These operating systems are installed in virtually all large businesses because of advanced memory management, security and remote management. If properly installed they typically run for weeks or months without rebooting. Applications are truly protected from each other and if one dies that doesn't kill everything else. Stability is assumed.

Having said all of this, Microsoft decided to merge the product lines resulting in XP. XP will be fully released in a few days and will have a few warts on some computers, BUT compared to Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME, you probably wouldn't even notice. "Service Packs" are issued about once a year on MS operating systems, or more frequently if serious problems are found. You just download them from the web and you are good to go. (XP probably even automates that.) I loved Windows NT, love WIndows 2000, but XP is the only answer to your question.

[tje]

I'm running Windows XP Pro on a 850mhz P3 with 256MB. It's an HP Omnibook 6000 and I have to say I like it. I really like how quickly it comes up.. The only issue I've found with it is netbuei isn't supported, but I did get my wireless card working.. Next choice would be Win2k.. 3rd Win98...

[fnord]

are you building or buying ?

Win 98 is fine, 2000 is very stable, never seen much XP ... ME stinks</P.

CDRW is awesome for backup, and has other uses too

[N00dleN0gg1n]

Get a Mac!

[Gee Wally]

My dislike of MS is growing by leaps and bounds daily, but I will spare you the ABM rant.

I would suggest doing some reading at a site like zdnet.com or cnet.com. Do a search for reviews of the operating systems you're interested in.

Also check out some of the articles to get a flavor of what's going on out there. Microsoft's licensing policies are really under fire, for example. How will MS's .NET strategy affect you? Who can figure that out? You can at least get some feel for where things are going.

Me personally, I plan to wean myself from MS products. You shouldn't need a lawyer to understand your license, but that's the way it has become with MSFT. Not to mention the never-ending blue screens with W95 and W98. NT4 has been OK for me for the most part, but not being supported any more is a problem (no USB support, for example). 2000 and XP are more stable, but I don't make the buying decisions at work - at home, why pay $150+ for 2000 when I can get a good, stable, gui Linux distribution for next to nothing. The Nimda virus (aimed at MS Outlook products, I believe) got me at the office. Sitting behind firewalls and not even using the Outlook program installed on my machine no less.

I plan to move to Linux as much as I can (although I use MS at work). Corel's Office for Linux is a decent office application with file compatibility with Word and Excel (at least they say so, I haven't had to use that capability yet). I prefer Word Perfect to Word anyway, so that works out fine. Of course, where Corel is going with Linux is a mystery to me. There are also some articles out there saying the next version of Sun's StarOffice is pretty good, too. And Netscape works for me as a browser. I'm still checking out my next email client though.

If I was going to stay with MSFT, I would go with 2000. The XP licensing scheme of having to get authorization to reinstall after certain hardware configuration changes is enough to make me say "no more."

[Vortex]

What do most of your clients use?

Are there any applications other than Office you will need to run that your clients use (which may be platform sensitive)?

This may be a bit of a technical answer, but I'd make sure to keep your current box on Win95 with what ever version of office you have on it and then get a system with a large amount of HD space (or two drives). You can load more than one operating system on that new box and thus more than one version of Office. (You'd choose which OS to run on Boot)

The short answer (IMO), go ahead an get XP with Office XP, too and keep the old box around for your clients who are slow to upgrade (if there is a downward compat issue).

[PatrioticAmerican]

XP. No doubt. For a home user, especially.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This seems to be pretty good advice, Get a new system with plenty of RAM , greater than 512, I think.

I have 256M on a 300 Mhz PII and when surfing am always locking up because of memory overload.

I am sure XP would take more!