New screenshots of windows XP! A lot less kiddie now!

[BD2003]

The protection has been cracked several times, for each build released by microsoft, within a few hours of leaking. Trust me, youre not going to have to activate it if you dont want to.

 

[BD2003]

Set it to show 20 most used programs and you'll see how slow it loads. At least the first time. Whats the point of putting those programs there anyway? It shows your name though, woot!

 

[DeepBlue]

Hey NFS, I was just wondering why is your title Ace Reporter?

 

[Noriaki]

DeepBlue: Becuase NFS4 = Brandon Hill, the guy that posts all the new news on www.anandtech.com


Hey...I heard that WinXP is going to be more sticky about Digital Signatures on the drivers...is that true?

I have 2 items that have unsigned drivers...is this going to be a problem?

 

[MrHelpful]

Isn't Windows XP supposed to be really slow and chunky (not to mention buggy)?

 

[MrGrim]

That's nice to hear Noriaki.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I'll tell you right now that I won't use XP. Their stupid media filter crap that screws up unvirifed or legit mp3's . Only 7 or 8 gigs of mp3s I listen to. Heck, I'm still using Win98 not even SE and NT 4

 

[NFS4]

<< I'll tell you right now that I won't use XP. Their stupid media filter crap that screws up unvirifed or legit mp3's . Only 7 or 8 gigs of mp3s I listen to. Heck, I'm still using Win98 not even SE and NT 4 >>


Can't you just use Winamp? MS can't &amp;@#! with Winamp's codecs. Besides, more people use Winamp anyway.

 

[nortexoid]

what's the big deal...

windowblinds.

 

[Soccerman]

or better yet.. Linux!

lol..

NFS4, you're so contradictory.. you used to be all for more speed, more power, more everything! now you're like this: eehh.. my computer's good enough for a while.

and NOW, you're buying Windows XP? jeesh, what's the point in that, seeing as you already have 2K?? are you TRYING to give yourself a reason to upgrade your hardware?

 

[KrispyKremer]

Likin' the 3d look to it.

Those pointing out similarities to Max OS X - didn't Bill and MS infuse Apple with something like $250 million a year or two ago? I'm sure that bought not only the rights to push Office on the Mac, but also to &quot;borrow&quot; the look and feel of the Apple OS as well.

 

[pulpp]

looks beautiful

 

[NFS4]

<< or better yet.. Linux!

lol..

NFS4, you're so contradictory.. you used to be all for more speed, more power, more everything! now you're like this: eehh.. my computer's good enough for a while.

and NOW, you're buying Windows XP? jeesh, what's the point in that, seeing as you already have 2K?? are you TRYING to give yourself a reason to upgrade your hardware? >>


I've never been one to buy the latest and greatest, so I don't see what you mean? I had an Athlon 600 @ 750 when everyone had Athlons at 1GHz. I bought a Duron 800 @ 950 when everyone else has Athlons at 1.4GHz+.

So when have I ever been one to flaunt the latest and greatest? Hell, I have a GeForce2 GTS when the top dogs have Pro's, Ultra's, and GF3's.

I may have said that I would like to have a high-power rig, but I like many others don't really need one. I have ALWAYS bought a speed notch down from what's top of the line.

And I have tried the latest build of Win XP and it works GREAT on my Duron system. It loads fast, menus pop up quickly, and I experienced no slowdowns, so my system will do just fine. I may upgrade to Palomino in the future, but for now I don't need it. It's all about priorities.

As for XP, I like it and I will buy the upgrade most likely. I like the new interface and the thoughtful touches added to the operating system and it works for ME. The enhanced start menu is a savior to me as I don't like to clutter my desktop with icons, and I don't like sorting through menus in Win2k. I like the drag and drop in OS CD burning and zip features. I just like everything about the new operating system. I personally would rather have the new OS than a new system b/c I only play one game...Tribes 2 and it works fine on my system. I also see myself being more productive with Windows XP as well. And I was also amazed (and quite scared) when I installed WinXP and it installed every last piece of my hardware and identified it correctly (except for my new Santa Cruz). I was absolutely amazed when it deteced my printer and popped up the align print cartridge screen when I booted into WinXP for the first time after install. After spending much time with the OS, I have fallen in love with it.

So, I really don't see what your point is. If you could shed more light on it, then by all means do...

 

[John]

Does anyone have those XP icons right now they can email me?

 

[shawnmos]

<< DeepBlue: Becuase NFS4 = Brandon Hill, the guy that posts all the new news on www.anandtech.com


Hey...I heard that WinXP is going to be more sticky about Digital Signatures on the drivers...is that true?

I have 2 items that have unsigned drivers...is this going to be a problem? >>



No it shouldn't be a problem at all.



<< Isn't Windows XP supposed to be really slow and chunky (not to mention buggy)? >>



Hell no, runs very fast for me and it never crashes. As stable as Win2k and it's still beta.

 

[shawnmos]

I really like this skin! I don't have that build. Can I download just the skin somewhere?

 

[prontospyder]

looks really nice.

 

[dANt3R]

I installed Beta 2 on my 266MHz laptop and couldn't be happier. The new compatibility mode option saved my butt when I was trying to run some Cisco exam software. I'm not to crazy about the cartoon-like skin, but all it took was a couple of check boxes and I was back to the standard W2K interface.

 

[GundamF91]

NFS4, it's not the difference between using Winamp or WindowsMediaPlayer. THe OS itself chks the legitimacy of the media file, and authenticates it. If it doesn't pass, the hardware doesn't get to touch it. That's the protection scheme, at least supposedly.

Yeah...crackers seem to do quite well against anything MS can throw at them.

 

[OggyDoggy]

Looks Cool!!
I just might buy it..

Who knows... when all the kinks are worked out of 2000 and XP is where 2000 is at now.. MS will probably have a new OS..
AND all of us will we be having the same discussion about Windows XZ..

 

[kuk]

My situation with WinXP is:

I'm running it on a PII-300 + 96MB, and it's as slow as hell. Much slower than Win2k. Applying WindowBlindsXP makes it run even slower. I've gone back to the classic skin, but there are still frequent slowdowns. And besides ... the blue LUNA look after about one month started getting on my nerves, especially since the luna taskbar occupies a lot more space than the classic one when set to double height.

Welcome additions were:
- Full color, full size icons.
- Ability to hide system tray icons.
- ClearType tecnology (unfortunatelly, it uses too much resources)

Things that need to be worked on or added:
- A better classic start menu.
- Speed up the &quot;most-used-apps list&quot; ... and I have only set to 5.
- Lock the computer after hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del (like in Win2k)
- Ability for skinners to make their own skins. Microsoft stated that only 3rd party apps would be able to skin the OS. And I hate WindowBlinds!
- MAKE &quot;BRIDGE BUILDER&quot; WORK GODDAMIT!!!

 

[BD2003]

The OS apparently has that capability, but believe me, it does nothing of the sort to Mp3s. Both winamp and media player 8 play mp3s just fine. And even if they did at it later, it'd be cracked in a day. Activation wont even be available in OEM versions, which are always easy to come by, not to mention cheaper.

The 96 MB is your problem. XP definitely has higher requirements than 2000, but actually, I'm all for it. In regular windows usage, our processors are sitting idle 90% of the time, so why not put all of that to good use? And ram is dirt cheap, hell I just bought a 128mb pc133 SODIMM for $30.

And XP really did get the drivers down perfect. Everything currently available is detected, and runs great.

 

[kuk]

<< The 96 MB is your problem. >>



That's what scares the hell out of me! I know 128MB is becoming standard, but this is supposed to be a consumer OS. And I bet ya that WinXP Home Edition will face the same problem!

And hey, the US maybe in price heaven ... but the rest of the world isn't. There are a lot of places where 64MB is becoming standard. For me, I'm in Brazil, and 128MB dimms are still a bit expensive (I'm a lucky bastard ... my primary computer has 256MB). Don't forget that Microsoft is a multi-national company, and the economy isn't going that well everywhere on earth.



Don't mind me ... I'm just ranting ...

 

[NFS4]

<< And XP really did get the drivers down perfect. Everything currently available is detected, and runs great. >>


Everything except my Santa Cruz which doesn't work

 

[LordFortius]

Where in the world are all you guys getting these build versions? I didn't even think they had all those builds on MSDN for download.... are you guys getting them on warez or irc or something like that?