Our current licensing with Microsoft allows you to purchase Windows XP Professional and then have Windows 98 SE or ME or Windows 2000 installed.  If later if you wish or have no choice but use XP Pro then you have already purchased XP.

1. Buy Win 98, save money now ($65), upgrade later ($145 for XP Pro plus labor costs or $165+ for the next Win disaster), should Microsoft produce something worth having. Hope that nothing for the next few years, really obsoletes Win 98. So far Win 95 is running just fine 2 years after non-support. (Note: Micro$oft stopped distribution of Win 98.  We know they are up to something. This is similar to General Motors dropping the Cadillac. Windows 98 sells were still going strong, last month.)

2. Buy Windows 2000 SP4 FAT 32 and settle for a compromise on capatiblility, but gain stability over 98.

3. Buy XP Professional, bite the bullet and hope and pray Microsoft fixes it. Then never buy old software or old computer equipment again.  Plan to stay on the phone long hours to make some software packages work after installing. Hope the next Blaster virus doesn't get you.

4. Buy XP Home now and know that any money saved ($65) will be spent on your time or someone else's restoring it every time it crashes. (We never sold XP Home, but are fixing about one a week that crashed, most still under one year old.)

(A couple of definitions "Win 9x" means Windows 95 or 98 or Millennium. Win NTx means all NT platforms NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP Home or Professional.)

NOW FOR THE GOOD NTx vs Win 9x:
 

• In a computer that has current patches, bug fixes, no hardware incompatibilities and minimal software and hardware installed, Windows NT or 2000 in any form is more stable than Windows 98. XP Professional is barely if at all better than Win 98. That is less "blue screens of death" less lock ups that require reset or powering the computer off and then back on. (The phone home messages in XP are actually "blue screens of death." They are masked by the pretties.) In most cases Windows ME and 2000 are very close and much better than XP. NT 4.0 is the most stable or Windows 2000 SP4.
• Windows XP is really pretty with that "AOL" look.
• Win NTx operating systems will allow you to run two or more operating systems on the same hardrive without special software. We are running 3 operating systems on one shop computer, NT 4.0 Server, Win 98, Win 2000 and 2 operating systems on one of the other computers, Win 98 and Win 2003 server. (We do 99.9% of all work here in Windows 98.)  (We had XP Pro but it keeps dying. So far 5 times in the past year.)
• Windows XP Professional has added support for DVDs, CDRWs and remote operation. (Programs that costs on a Win 98 machine about $20, if you don't like the free ones available.)

NOW FOR THE BAD:

• Win 9x and NT 4.0 will go into limited support status in mid - June 2003 till June 2006. DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR WIN 9x JUST TO UPGRADE. We have lots of customers running Win 95 and have no problems doing anything they need to do on the computers. Win 95 has been in complete non support for 2 years.
• NOTE: Before you buy XP Pro or Home make sure any software contracts or sub-contracts your company might have will not be cancelled or violated by XP.  Many large US corporations have banned all XP for all facilities and sub-contractors. Government facilities and government contractors can not have XP in the buildings!
• Microsoft will never admit to it. But I believe the core of Windows 2000 SP3 and Windows NT 4.0 are the same. Windows XP Pro has the original Windows 2000 core operating system.  (We loved NT 4.0 and hated W2k when if first came out.) Most of the abilities of Win NT 4.0 that I loved are back with Windows 2000 SP3.  Windows 2000 SP4 is better in every way, compatiblility & stability then XP Pro. XP Home is by far the worst operating system Microsoft ever did since the Windows 95a and maybe all the way back to DOS 4. Everything was simpler in Win 2000 and less Microsoft "knows best" programing than XP.  Every computer person I know hates the thought of Windows "Big Brother" coming out this year.
• Windows 2000 is done 2 years from now or sooner.  If you are thinking about upgrading XP Professional is your only choice now.  Next year, Windows Big Brother and Office MG (more garbage).
• Windows eXtra Power" is a joke also. It is ridiculous that Microsoft will not fix anything, but releases new junk years too soon. We are sick of Micro$oft "reinventing the wheel" every 2 years!  Microsoft's new system for 2005 is Longhorn.  M$ claims it will not be an upgrade to Windows but a new operating system. (That is M$' way of saying nothing will be compatible with the new Longhorn unless Micro$oft approves!)
• If you remove the pretties XP will run 10-30% faster, almost the speed of Win 2000 overall.

• Win 98 is most compatible with all software & hardware, then Win 2000, then NT, then XP Pro, XP Home is last place. (Note: NT 4.0 is non for the novice computer business or IT person and in those instances it would be last on the list.)
• About 70% of the world is running Win 9x. This means all hardware produced will first be Windows 98 compatible, IF at all, Win NTx.
• Windows XP Home should never be purchased for any use but home! It has at best limited network abilities and cannot connect properly even to NT servers. Even the Microsoft techs always say "XP Pro" in all their propoganda talks.
• Educated guess that 30% of all computer hardware that exists today is not Win NTx compatible. (Scanners, camera, video cards, etc.)
• What was compatible software and hardware with Windows NT 4.0 is not compatible with Windows 2000 or even more with XP in many cases.

• If you ever had problems with viruses in Win 9x, expect 10 times more grief with Win NTx. Many viruses that were an annoyance in Win 9x are fatal in Win NTx!
• Viruses can infect an Win NTx machine while being logged into a network (included the Internet) and the operator is at lunch or sleeping. In one building of 82 computers, 4 servers, only the 3 Win NTx machines were infected by "Fun Love" and "Nimda" viruses.
• All future viruses will be designed primarily to attack XP and Windows servers, then W2k. I doubt any virus will be directed toward Windows 9x. Also, all of these viruses will be "Network Aware". That is to say, come in on one NTx machine infect all NTx machines on the network. Allstate Insurance's NTx network was down 2 weeks because of Nimda.
• The new XP virus (not yet made) will attack the XP registry, lock itself in as a non-removable program and then remove the registry editing tools ability. The end result is a total reformat of hardrive and a complete reinstall of everything. Virus programs probably will not be able to detect incoming Worm viruses and definitely not be able to repair them.  Nimda 2 virus (code made, not a virus yet) will remove all XP machines from the network.

• XP Professional is about $90 per PC more then Win 9x.
• Win NTx can not be cloned easily. Each Win NTx machine has to be built separate from all other machines. In a Corp. situation this means hundreds of computer hours as opposed to tens.
• Corrupt Windows is far harder to fix in Win NTx than Win 9x.
• Saving personal files in Win 9x is far easier than Win NT in case of fatal Windows crashes.
• If you are running Win NTx .... backup, backup, backup, backup!!!!
• Win 9x updates are easy to download and are free. Win NTx updates are in the hundred megabyte range and will more often then not with 56k modems require buying them on CD, $20-40 per year. In April 2002 downloads for a fresh install of Win XP was in the 260 MB range. That is more than all the Windows 98 updates put together for the pass 5 years.
• Win NTx updates are extensive and can cause previously working software or hardware to never work again. Win XP News claimed major problems installing XP Service Pack 1 from surveys.
• Win 9x or Win NT 4.0 can run okay on a 233 with 64 MB of RAM. XP is slow on a 450 MHz with 384 MB of RAM. 1000 MHz AMD or Pentium with Win 9x is a killer machine, with XP adequate.