difference

See the following sites on Microsoft Products
1)www.microsoft.com/Windows/default
2)www.cnet.com/software/0-6688749.html
3)www.yaxoo.com/
4)www.veritas.com

I can only answer for the OS issue, as I don't have experiance with Office 2K or XP.

Check out www.winoscentral.com for more details.

98 is a general purpuse OS targeted to the consumer market.

W2K is a higher security, more stabil OS targeted at the business market.

XP is a dual purpose OS built on the core code of W2K.

Perhaps the most notable difference when you switch to Windows, or Office XP is the product activation feature.
This forces you to only install XP on 1 PC per copy.

File system support:
98; FAT32, FAT16
W2k / XP; ntsf, FAT32, FAT16

There are server versions of both W2K and XP.

W2K and XP do not have the 511MB memory issues that 98 has.

W2K and XP have true multi-processor support.

I assume that part of your question is to help determine what OS to use on a system.

If you have relatively current hardware, I recommend XP. It will run most software applications, and will have the longest remaining support life of the 3.

If you desire to run a lot of games, esspecially DOS based games, I would consider W98.
Remember, that W98 has a maximum memory limit of 511MB for many configurations.
It also has limits dealing with large hard drives. For some configurations, you are limited to 32GB partitions. Even if you don't run into the 32GB wall, you have a 62GB wall in the W98 implementation of FAT32.

W2K is considered the most stable (reliable) of the 3 at this time. (With any luck, SP1 for XP will improve the stability of XP.)
If you are setting up workstations, and want to limit the users ability to run game software, W2K is the way to go.

As has been the history of Windows, each new version adds more functions and has improved support for the newest hardware.On the flip side, many older hardware devices are dropped, and have no support in XP.

One interesting addition to office XP is the verbal recognition suite built into the programs. There are also compatibility issues with different versions of office. If you have other machines using one version, I recommend consistency. In general, new operating systems are made to take advantage of new hardware and new utilities are made to exploit the new hardware. The newer interfaces are more graphic and have enhanced multimedia capabilities. Also with the XP series, I think MS has tried to improve the wording and place things where you would be likely to look for them, as the first response indicated, this can be frustrating for experienced users.

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