Anyone trying out Windows Whistler (XP) Beta 2?

[Ophidia]

I was just wondering if anyone else was inflicting this upon themselves and what the general thoughts about it were to this point. I have found it to be flaky (beta, gotta be flaky) but it does not crash-- just not real smooth. Of course, I have only been using it for a day... :)
As for the new interface, MS inroduced a more intuitive (?)start menu that shows the apps you have been using more recently right in the start menu root, and my computer, network neighborhood, etc. are also in the start menu. I hate this. Fortunately, MS was smart enough to allow one to pick a classic interface to avoid this. For this I am grateful.
I must say, so far, Whistler Professional really has nothing over 2000 Professional. The only dislike I have for it at this time is the new start menu/desktop interface, and, as I said, this is defeatable.
Chris

[hesaias]

Id like to try it out, but how do I get ahold of it? Win98 2nd locked my system up
366MHz
64 Megs ram

[Ophidia]

You should still be able to get it off the the Microsoft web site.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/preview/order.asp

I believe you need 128 meg of RAM for it, so you might want to beef up your RAM.

Chris

[hesaias]

It wont let me finish the order. Sez the page is down for scheduled Maintenance. Ill try later.I read the PC mag review. They think its better than sliced bread. Whadda you think?

[Ophidia]

For the most part is seems to basically be Windows 2000. It has a few good utilities, such as Windows Restore per Windows ME, a built in firewall that is decent for the average home user, etc. I'm not sold on the new interface, but as i mentioned above it lets picky bastages like myself choose the old style.
It seems to be faster than Windows Me and 98, but thus far I have not found any third party utilities that work with it (I have tried Tiny PErsonal Firewall, Sygate Personal Firewall, Norton Systemworks (inc. antivirus), Norton Internet Security (same problems as with systemworks, one of the dll's makes the system unstable, fortuantely it warns you of this before installation).
For the most part I like it, but I like it due to it's similarities with Windows 2000 and I don't think it is much of an improvement, if any. It is, of course, a beta, so the finished product should be much better (though past experience has not shown this to be the case... I had more problems with the retail release of Windows 98 than I did with the public beta).
If you don't have Windows 2000 handy, and have the hard drive space to dual boot (if you choose "Clean Install" during installation, it will automatically set up dual booting) AND a second partition to keep your program files seperate, you should have no problems with it. Just make sure you are familiar with the "Last Known Good Configuration" option a the boot menu so you can correct problems if it won't boot or let you log in after installing some new software.

The short of it: XP good, like Win2k is good, has bugs, doesn't work with everything, will cause a few problems, but, hey, new stuff is cool, right?

Just make sure you dual boot and don't convert your drive to NTFS because you will be screwed if you can't get Whistler to run and you converted your only partition during setup...

Cheers,
Chris

[Ophidia]

I'm gonna download McAffee virus scan and see if that works with it.

[Autumn]

Originally posted by Ophidia
For the most part is seems to basically be Windows 2000

It basicly is... It's just a version geared more towards home users than business users.

WinME was supposed to be an intermediate step between Win98's lingering support for 16bit apps and Win2k's lack of support for them. (Which is why some things work in 2K and some, especially older apps, don't-)...

WinXP was supposed to be entirely 32bit, like Win2k... but I don't know if they actually did that or not. I terminal serve quite a bit, so I never tested XP. I use 2kServer. There should be a white paper somewhere up on DevNet with the support details.

If you guys who are testing it have any suggestions or gripes, definitely send them in to your eval contact. Believe it or not, the Win crews like to have "outside" input. They beta everything internally with the rest of us Softies first (We joke a lot about being a captive audience-), but the tech-headness out here doesn't always reflect what "civilians" in the Real World want, need, or are willing to put up with.

[Edited by Autumn on 05-21-2001 at 03:38 PM]

[Ophidia]

The Beta version is XP Professional, which is supposed to replace Win2k Pro. They are also planning on releasing Xp server, advanced server, etc.
Windows XP seems to be less of a jump then NT to 2000 was, is basically all I am saying.
There will also be a personal, home version for home users.
Chris