Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 English 1-Pack - OEM

Pros: The biggest Pro - it's not Vista/7. XP is still considered the OS to use since it is compatible with almost any software program and any piece of hardware, which is the biggest downfall of Microsoft's defunct Vista and 7 (try getting windows 7 to run a novel 5 server without corrupting a few files!) We like our 10 year old novel servers, and we don't have a budget to upgrade 20 of them, so thank goodness you can still find windows XP. Get this and tell Microsoft they need to rethink their Windows 7 "works" campaign - because honestly, it does not "just work." The only thing that windows 7 has done faster than an equivalent XP computer is shutdown...wooohoo. I have a Dell P4 3.0GHz, 2GB RAM that boots to XP Pro and has Google loaded in IE8 in under 90 seconds, that's a 7+ year old PC.

Cons: IE7 makes browsing the web a gamble between an online game and a load of malware. ADP and some other encrypted sites will only run on IE6+. Blah, if Firefox was installed instead of IE I would be very happy with windows.

Other Thoughts: I am a fan of Ubuntu, but hardware support still isn't there to give you the performance of XP on certain computers - my Lenovo 1.8ghz DC laptop runs fast with great graphics performance on Ubuntu - but no sound. My HP dv2214us has sound and webcam support and yada yada yada - but it's nVidia chipset makes any game very choppy. Also Newegg doesnt let you write the word G -O -D?

Pros: It has been highly stable, has a lot of software out for it, and can run very well for gaming/business/casual needs. Works well for sharing files in an office or at home. Have run for years without a crash.

Cons: Higher cost, and is now becoming outdated.

Other Thoughts: Since Linux is often a guessing game because there isn't really a standard for GNU-Linux, and it doesn't support the broad range of software, and isn't as easy to configure, and isn't as easy to operate, and so on and on, this is great for people that don't want to be a computer expert to run a computer. I like Linux, but until someone can make it not such a mix-n-match project that still feels like an amateur beta product, Windows will be better for general users.

Pros: XP is good what more can be said??

Cons: Price, XP should NOT cost almost 200.00. Microsoft rip off

Other Thoughts: I needed the program for a replacement. However I would suggest Linux.

Pros: The CD worked and the operating system loaded.

Cons: It's Windows XP, so it's full of annoying "features." That said, it could be worse: it could have been Vista.

Other Thoughts: I'm a Linux user. I only get this stuff for the benefit of customers who are locked into Microsoft.

Pros: I think that it is the stablest OS that windows has made. Well that might not be true but it is the best mix between performance and stability.

Cons: It only supports 3gb of memory.

Other Thoughts: Linux still sets the curve

Pros: The web description doesn't tell you something very important:

THIS IS THE 32 BIT VERSION NOT THE 64 BIT VERSION.

95% of consumers will want this because it has less to fiddle with to get your older applications working.

The 64 bit version requires a higher level of knowledge to fiddle with it to get the results you want.

Cons: The 32 bit version is the easiest to work with, but won't support memory over 3 gb. It doesn't support 64 bit applications (no, seriously! :)

As always, your mileage may vary.

Other Thoughts: The Newegg online chat person told me to call Microsoft and verify what this is since the website doesn't say. Unusual for Newegg.