Switch from xp to 2000

Is this a good idea?

...

Ah didn't see the title.

Well 2000 and XP are almost backwards compatible and the structure is practicly identicle so if it's for performance then switch it to classic mode.

Is there any PARTICULAR reason you want to switch back to 2000?

Both 2000 and XP are based on the Windows NT codebase. XP contains elements that will allow Microsoft to eventually stop supporting the Windows 95/98/ME codebase (I think ME is still officially supported). I haven't seen a date in print anywhere, but you can be sure they will want to de-support 2000 sometime in the next few years. So if you are planning to be running Windows for another 2 or 3 years you are probably better off sticking with XP.

My plan is to stop using Windows entirely long before 2000 is de-supported. If that were not the case I would be running XP and trying to adjust to whatever privacy invasions Microsoft wanted to inflict upon me.

I find ZoneAlarm is a great way to stop weaselly MS applications (i.e. Media Player) from "calling home." I have XP but I run it with the "classic" skin. I don't think 2000 really has much to recommend it over XP, except that it doesn't have product activation. If you actually pay for stuff like I do that isn't a problem.

Actually I think product activation is much more of a problem for people who pay for their software than it is for people who don't. I've probably spent several thousand dollars of my own money on Microsoft products over the years, as well as those copies of things that my employers paid for. Quite an amazing amount for the use of a single person when you add it all up.

My first (and last) experience with product activation was with Front Page 2000, which I purchased, as a separate product at about the same time I got both a new desktop computer and a new laptop. I wasn't even aware of the product activation concept at the time, although I did notice that the installation dialogs were a bit different than for earlier versions. I installed the product on both of my old computers. When the new ones came along I didn't even think about uninstalling the old copies, as the basic plan for the old computers was to turn them off and never use them again. The old laptop eventually got reformatted with the original software that came with it and given to someone else. It was a few weeks before I attempted to install FrontPage on my new machines. By then, uninstalling on the old machines wasn't an option any more. The first one went OK, since the counter in that case allowed for 3 installs. The new laptop install failed however and I didn't have a clue what the problem was for a while.

Going through the failed install for the third time or so I very carefully read each dialog box and discovered that one of them was telling me that I needed to call Microsoft to finish installing the product. Did they give me a number to call? No. I had to go off and do Google searches and learn about other peoples product activation problems so that I would know what number to call.

When I called I got a very polite person who said her computer was down so she couldn't confirm my exact status with regard to the installation. Since I was a bit agitated at this point she gave me a special code, basically an emergency code that they have that allows the installs to always work. So I finished my install.

While I had her on the phone I asked a few questions. I found out she was not a Microsoft employee at all. Their computers were often down. They only answered their phones during normal business hours. I asked her what would happen if I wanted to keep using this version of FrontPage for 10 years or so, would they still be around to help me (this was before she gave me the secret code) and she said probably not, I'd just have to upgrade to a current version. I was in the process of telling her that I didn't think I even WANTED FrontPage any more since I had done just fine without it for several weeks. Since her computer was still down she then gave me the secret code I think to avoid me asking for her manager.

I finished my Frontpage install. But I never used the product again. Every time I thought about using it I'd get mad again at being treated like cattle by yet another monopoly. I found out that Mozilla had all the HTML editing capabilities I was using in Frontpage anyway, so I finally uninstalled it for good, and began my quest for non-Microsoft solutions. I'm glad I did too.

A coworker down the hall when he heard of this just laughed and told me that he never paid for home version of any software. When I asked him what he did about product activations he told me that the secret codes were readily available for anyone who looked hard enough. There are also Enterprise versions of Windows and Office that have product activation turned off. I'm sure its all easily downloadable.

If every time I went to a particular department store I got a lecture about the evils of shoplifting and on the way out my bags and pockets were searched, I'd stop shopping there in a hurry. Thats the way I feel about product activation. Microsoft got where they are today by looking the other way as people took copies of their software. Three years ago they decided they were the only game in town and could start to put the squeeze on these same people. With rumors about the number of people defecting to Linux they are once again looking the other way as people buy copies of Office for $150 claiming the educational discount. They've even had Ziff Davis ADVISE people to take advantage of this and clue them in that the stores don't do ANY confirmation of your qualifications to buy this version. Their attitude makes me sick.

So for that reason I say that product activation is a pain in the A** for honest people and not much trouble at all for the dishonest. Go Microsoft!

I guess you must never shop at Best Buy or CompUSA. They both check your receipt against your bag contents before you leave the store. The blame for this kind of draconian business practices doesn't lie with them or with Microsoft... it lays squarely at the feet of all the thieves who force them to take that position.

Microsoft haters crack me up. When I look back at what it was like to be an animator in the early 90's compared to what it's like today it makes me want to dance in the street. Back then I lost a good four months a year to hardware and software problems. Now I might lose two days a year. Installing new hardware used to be a nightmare. Now it's plug and play. Thousands of dollars does NOT sound like a lot to pay. Back in 1990 the leading animation software cost around $40,000 and that didn't even buy it... it just gave you the right to use it for a year. When your year was up you had to cough up another $40,000. How quickly we become jaded.

That must vary by region. Best Buy and Comp USA don't check in this area. I occasionally see someone standing at the door of Comp USA, but they just kind of stare at you and say good night or something. Maybe if you look "suspicious" they do more (although I think I look pretty suspicious and they never have).

Things have sure changed for the better since the early 90's. PC prices are WAY down, and while I think there was more freeware and shareware for DOS and Windows back then, prices for third party products have for the most part gone down. The only products for which you pay more each time are the Microsoft line. Since most individual users just use whatever comes on the machine they buy they don't much notice it. The hardware price drops have more than made up for Microsoft's price increases. Businesses tend to notice this more however since they are actually paying Microsoft separately for software in bulk. Not uncommon for a large business to be paying more to Microsoft for PC software than they ever did for the mainframe software that it replaced. Not surprisingly, many peoples attitudes about Microsoft are very similar to those they had for IBM when they were at the peak of their monopoly status.