No.. SP2 does not eliminate the differences.. XP Pro continues to have more
networking and security tools available to it than the Home version
regardless of what service pack is installed.. SP2 upgrades the general
security of whatever is present in the operating system.. the average home
standalone does not need XP Pro installed unless the user wants or needs
file encryption and passwording.. for the most part, Mr/Mrs Homeuser have
enough problems understanding basic stuff..
I don't think you can go from Pro to Home (although you can go the other
way) without performing a complete install. Besides, Home is just a crippled
version of Pro, and has way more bugs.
It just leaves out some facilities seen as needed in corporate nets, so
as to charge them a higher price. Other than that the two versions are
identical code and Home does *not* have more bugs - in fact in that
there may be bugs in those Pro only items, it could be said to have
fewer
If you want to use Visual Studio.Net to create web projects, you need XP
Professional, because XP Home doesn't come with IIS. That's the only reason
I have to get it.
If you are already using Pro, you cannot downgrade to Home without a
reinstall. If you insert a Home CD it will not let you install over Pro.
Since you are networking, I suggest that you stay with Pro. Pro is better
equipped for networking. Home is a subset of Pro.
Note: The 5.1 means something like this: Windows for Workgroups was a
Windows 3.x version. Windows 9x and NT were Windows 4.x versions. Windows
2000 was a Windows 5.0 version. WinXP (all flavors) are Windows 5.1
versions. Win 2003 is a Windows 5.2 version. Longhorn will probably be
Windows 6.x, but I'm guessing. So, as you can see, both Home and Pro would
be 5.1 (as well as Media Center and Tablet).
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