Windows XP3?

[Stan Nelson]

Increasingly, negative experiences with and opinions regarding Vista are
accumulating, including those from knowledgeable sources and computer
manufacturers. Given this setting, and the numbers of users who are
reverting to or staying with Windows XP (especially Professional), how about
a Service Pack 3, and having a Windows XP3 as a stand-alone product from
Microsoft. XP is maybe the finest operating system ever available, so why
not make it even better and more appealing? A Windows XP3 could even
outsell Vista!

Stan Nelson
Dallas.
Windows user since 3.0.

 

[Alias]

Increasingly, negative experiences with and opinions regarding Vista are
accumulating, including those from knowledgeable sources and computer
manufacturers. Given this setting, and the numbers of users who are
reverting to or staying with Windows XP (especially Professional), how about
a Service Pack 3, and having a Windows XP3 as a stand-alone product from
Microsoft. XP is maybe the finest operating system ever available, so why
not make it even better and more appealing? A Windows XP3 could even
outsell Vista!

Stan Nelson
Dallas.
Windows user since 3.0.

Supposedly SP3 for XP is being released the end of this year.

Alias

 

[Alan]

Hello Stan,

There was one other operating system from Microsoft that was a faithful
workhorse to many users for a long, long time, even after Windows XP was
released -- Windows 98.

I suppose it's a question of semantics as to whether Win98 Second Edition
should be considered a different O/S from the original Win98.

Alan

 

[Rock]

Increasingly, negative experiences with and opinions regarding Vista are
accumulating, including those from knowledgeable sources and computer
manufacturers. Given this setting, and the numbers of users who are
reverting to or staying with Windows XP (especially Professional), how
about a Service Pack 3, and having a Windows XP3 as a stand-alone product
from Microsoft. XP is maybe the finest operating system ever available,
so why not make it even better and more appealing? A Windows XP3 could
even outsell Vista!

Vista runs just fine here on a 5yr old P4, 1GB RAM system, and on the
systems of all that I know who are running it. Not sure what you mean by
XP3, but SP3 is still scheduled for release in the first half of 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/servicepacks.mspx

 

[BillW50]

Hello Stan,

There was one other operating system from Microsoft that was a
faithful workhorse to many users for a long, long time, even after
Windows XP was released -- Windows 98.

I suppose it's a question of semantics as to whether Win98 Second
Edition should be considered a different O/S from the original Win98.

The same was true of Windows 3.0 vs. 3.1. As there was over 1000
improvements between the two versions.

I can tell you that Windows 98SE is far superiour at playing DVD and
streaming videos than Windows 2000 is say on a Celeron 400MHZ with 192MB
of RAM. I'm not sure about Windows XP though. I never did that test on
such a system yet.

I actually liked Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 too. Although they are too
outdated for me anymore, but great for their time. And I don't have any
problems with Windows 98SE, except for the running low on resources
problem. And modern applications actually makes it worse than it used to
be back then.

 

[Alan]

Hi Bill,

I actually have an old P3 machine sitting next to my two newer XP boxes --
one is just a month old -- that still works and is running Win 95.

Anytime I want to reminisce about how fast the search feature in Windows
Explorer USED to be, I turn on that machine and search for arcane files. :>

Alan

 

[BillW50]

Hi Bill,

I actually have an old P3 machine sitting next to my two newer XP
boxes -- one is just a month old -- that still works and is running
Win 95.

Ah... it warms my heart to hear stories like this.

Anytime I want to reminisce about how fast the search feature in
Windows Explorer USED to be, I turn on that machine and search for
arcane files. :>

Oh you bet! People somehow believe while the computers are getting
faster and the programs are getting bigger, that we are ahead of the
game. The truth is it is really getting slower IMHO.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Supposedly SP3 for XP is being released the end of this year.

and it is alleged to have the draconian DRM features that have turned users
against Vista.

 

[Alias]

and it is alleged to have the draconian DRM features that have turned users
against Vista.

Great. I guess MS wants to make sure everyone abandons XP as well. Sad.

Alias

 

[Test Man]

It's Windows XP Service Pack 3. Sounds silly using something incorrect.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Great. I guess MS wants to make sure everyone abandons XP as well. Sad.

This was a question that was discussed on another forum. The bigger
question was: why is microsoft introducing all of this DRM to protect what
is, after all, other suppliers' premium content. Microsoft could easily
have left it out and established a fait acompli that the content providers
can either supply the market or not. The latter option basically depriving
themselves of profit and so is rather unlikely.

The apparent only conclusion was that Microsoft is trying to leverage itself
into a position where it gets sole control the distribution channel for
premium content. This provides an explanation as to why Microsoft is
determined to retrofit XP (and maybe earlier products) with draconian DRM
features.