[Harrison Bergeron]

"In spite of my advice not ever to go near "XP" anything, a few of my firends have replaced their computers and failed to request other OS to be installed (non-XP Windows 2000 comes to mind) and are now tearing their hair out:"

Just before the release of Win XP, a friend in the business recommended the purchase of Win 2000 as a safe - relatively bug free - alternative to XP. It turned out to be excellent advice. I've researched all of the benchmark evaluations of Win XP and Win 2K. I've concluded that Win XP is nothing more than an updated service pack build of Win 2000 with a colorful new GUI shell, a few new multi-media apps, and a repulsively intrusive authentication routine that will disable your system if you make significant hardware upgrades.

Nobody, not even the known Microsoft shill munchkins on FR, have assailed me on this conclusion.

[Publius6961]

Nobody, not even the known Microsoft shill munchkins on FR, have assailed me on this conclusion.

Not surprising. That's like trying to defend 50 tons of arms and explosives to the "Palestinians" as an "Israeli plot".

That is why the Microsoft flying monkeys always resort to personal attacks and the ever-popular, totally asinine "if you don't like Microsoft don't buy it, write your own OS..."

[Psycho_Bunny]

You are correct. XP is a slower version of 2000 with obnoxious bells and whistles.

[Petronski]

Nobody, not even the known Microsoft shill munchkins on FR, have assailed me on this conclusion.

I believe the correct term is FlyingMonkeyXP™.