My overall conclusions are positive, but there are some issues that either need to be resolved or that potential users may not know about or understand.
So today, at the very beginning of a week of Windows XP mania (at least as much as Microsoft can generate), I want to introduce you to what I think of as the "dark side" of Microsoft's new OS.
Here are the specific areas that concern me.
- Licensing and cost. If you want to install XP on two computers, you must buy two copies of the OS. Three computers, three copies, etc. No longer will you be able to buy one upgrade disk and use it to upgrade all your computers.
Microsoft points out that this practice was never legal, anyway, but now they are doing their best to make it impossible. Microsoft does plan to offer 10 to 15 percent discounts for multiple purchases, but for many customers that won't reduce the sting very much. I feel like I have said this a zillion times, but every day I get a few more e-mails asking about whether you really have to buy a copy for every machine. Yes! (Office XP allows two copies, by the way.)
- Activation. If you buy a new computer with XP pre-installed, you will probably never be asked to activate the new machine or reactivate it when you, for some reason, need to reinstall the operating system. Upgraders, however, will be asked to activate the software either automatically over the Internet or via telephone. Then, if the software sees too many changes in your hardware--and thinks you might have moved the OS to a new machine--it will force you to reactivate, which may involve a telephone call to Microsoft.
Just the existence of this scheme torques many people, a sentiment of which Microsoft is well aware. They say they have tried to make this as easy and painless as possible and will be very reasonable when people call to reactivate. We'll see.
- Firewall woes. Microsoft touts a number of new networking features that may not work very well for many users until changes can be made. The video instant messaging and remote support (screen sharing) features won't make it though any of my home firewalls. Yes, the firewalls themselves are often to blame--but no matter what's at fault, these conflicts limit the immediate usefulness of some new features. Will it be fixed? Probably, but over time.
- Wireless troubles. I have had problems with wireless (802.11b) networking support with XP. Microsoft has done a great deal to make XP an easy OS to network. And the company's wireless networking support makes it easy to connect to a wireless access point.
But that won't be a reality for most people until the hardware manufacturers get caught up. And that may take a while. Even my 3Com card, which XP includes drivers for, won't install properly for some reason. Wireless buyers beware! One co-worker warns that he has yet to get a Linksys wireless router to work with his Dell portable running XP, although it worked fine with Windows 9x.
- Drivers. There are many devices for which XP drivers do not (yet) exist. That will be a problem for some people. In other cases, "mini" drivers exist--like the one for my HP printer/scanner/copier/fax--that support only the most basic features (printing, in this case). While Microsoft has more drivers ready at release for this OS than any I've ever used before, some people will not be able to use XP until new drivers appear.
- Applications compatibility. Microsoft feels pretty confident that almost all current best-selling apps will run on XP. But some older ones won't, and that will create problems for some users. One reader found that business apps ran fine, but his children's two favorite games didn't.
- Home vs. pro. I am a tad concerned about whether some "home" users will think they actually need the "pro" version, a $100 additional expense per machine. Time will tell how Microsoft educates people so they make the proper choices.
- Memory. If you are upgrading an older machine and have less than 256MB of RAM, be sure to buy some memory. But since memory isn't expensive right now, this isn't the issue it would have been a few years ago. I am running XP very nicely on a 450MHz Micron Pentium II with 256MB of RAM.
- Passport. One of our execs in the ZDNet Reviews group feels Microsoft tries to use XP to steamroll people into signing up for a .Net Passport, which has been a subject of much controversy. My recommendation: Take the Passport, but DON'T sign up for a Hotmail account. I get more porno spam on that service than any other, and whenever a message arrives, a notification box appears in the lower right-hand corner of the screen (annoying). Avoid this by getting a passport.com account rather than a hotmail.com account.
- MSN. Another colleague commented: "XP has more hooks than my grandfather's fishing hat--all leading to MSN. Whether it's (a push for) Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, Passport, or Internet Explorer 6's answer to 404 pages, XP drives a lot of traffic to XP. Those hits are good for selling ads and selling stuff to consumers. Is this an OS, or a rip-off version of AOL? Sometimes, XP makes you wonder." (AOL does pretty much the same thing.)
- No MP3 support. If you want to encode files in MP3 format, you must buy a third-party plug-in for Windows Media Player or some other third-party software. Why? Microsoft wanted to promote its own Windows Media format, which is just fine if your player supports it, and didn't want to pay royalties on millions of copies of XP that would never actually use an MP3 encoder.
- Firewall. I don't use the Microsoft-provided firewall but I have heard complaints that it doesn't do a particularly good job of firewalling. Granted, these complaints come from interested parties (like competitors), but if I were to rely on the free MS firewall I'd want to read up on it first. Like everything else Microsoft, it will doubtless be high on hackers' target lists.
Avoiding these issues: Microsoft is making available a free Upgrade Advisor application that will check to see if your system can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional. I don't think this poses a problem for those upgrading to the Home edition. The software--which should also be available free from retailers--runs a version of the actual XP install program and checks for incompatibilities, then returns a sometimes long list of them. You get to decide which apps and devices need updating to run under the new OS and which you are willing to do without.
I must tell you that I have been able to generate nothing incredibly damning about Windows XP. Nevertheless, some of these issues will probably delay some people from installing it until new drivers appear, and so forth. The pricing and activation issues are as much political as technical, and you must make your own decisions there.
You might think the XP team at Microsoft would be unhappy that I spent a day talking about what I see as the problems with their new baby. To the contrary, Microsoft is pretty up-front about addressing all these issues--and if I uncover some they are hiding, I'll report them too.
I vetted this list with some very smart people around here and they couldn't add very much to it--until just before deadline, when I received an e-mail from a trusted friend detailing his fairly unhappy eXPeriences so far.
Some of this stuff is specific to his situation and some of it is more general, but I will include it here in the interests of full disclosure--with the comment that this isn't typical of the general feedback I've received.
"David, I would call the dark side more like a black hole. My initial enthusiasm for the benefits of XP over Windows 9.x and Me has waned after continued use.
"Yesterday, I got e-mail from a reader with a 15-month-old HP Pavilion 8760c PC. After downloading and running Microsoft's XP compatibility checker, he found there were no drivers for virtually all of the integrated components; we're talking basic stuff like video and audio. I forwarded his message to HP PR, which in part responded, 'We learned that due to a motherboard issue, this particular model cannot be upgraded to Windows XP.' Last I checked, Microsoft claimed any PC bought from holiday 1999 onwards could run Windows XP.
"XP also packs all kinds of cute little gotchas that will keep the support lines humming with calls. During testing, I ran into what I thought was a sound-card driver problem on a Gateway home PC. Later on, when I upgraded a nearly identical system to XP, the sound card wouldn't work. After troubleshooting, I figured out that the speakers, and not the sound card, caused the problem. Whoever heard of a problem getting speakers to work? You just plug them in. Turns out the Boston Acoustic speakers were digital, and a special box must be checked in the sound settings to enable the digital speakers."
Thinking about my friend's last comments, I just got a new XP notebook with dead speakers. Hmmmmm...
All this week I will be trying to get you up to speed for the XP launch. Tomorrow and Wednesday, I will update the answers to readers' most-asked questions about XP. I will distill everything I know about XP into an essential guide for Thursday's launch, and on Friday I will report on the launch event itself, including my interviews with very senior MS executives.
I will also be on CNET Radio talking about XP at 7:45 a.m. PT every day, do my usual radio hour show at noon on Friday, and be on-air in-between as well. You may even catch me on CNET Broadband during the week.
So it will be XP until we are all really sick of it this week--especially regular readers who may miss their usual dose of my ranting--but there will be so many new and occasional readers arriving to check out the new OS that I want to do my best to help them get off to a good start.
Any other dark sides to Windows XP that I missed? TalkBack to me.
Designing the next killer product
Developing new ways to collaborate
Overseeing IT operations across a global organization
The biggest security threats facing companies in 2009
