Opinions wanted...

Sure, I would pick XP over ME, but if you want a stable OS go to 2000 Pro, XP has too many Bells in it to make it "smooth" and ME just makes my skin crawl!!

XP Professional is great if you have compatible hardware--check the MS HCL list for XP before upgrading. XP Home is fine if you're not going to network the PC. Both versions of XP are proving to be stable and reliable. If XP is not feasible with your hardware, I personally would install Windows 98 second edition rather than work with ME, but that's just my opinion!

The more I use XP, the happier I am with it.

Perhaps the biggest advantage for your use is that you will not be bound by Windows 9X memory limit. You could go ahead and max out your memory to improve performance.

The user interface of XP is somewhat similar to Me, so you won't have as much of a learning curve as I had going from W98.

You say you have access to a copy of XP.
If that copy has been activated, you will have problems activating it on another PC.

That said, beyond the one PC per copy issue, product activation has not been the big brother senario that everyone was afraid of.
I had a major motherboard crash, and had to start over again with a new motherboard.
I had to call in to activate the second time, but there was no problem, or interigation.

For peace of mind, check out the hardware and software compatability lists posted at Microsofts XP site.
And, run the compatability test at www.pcpitstop.com

If you decide to install XP, I thouroughly recomend that you perform a fresh install.
If you add a second hard drive, or have a free partition, you can install XP to the new drive in a dual-boot configuration with your existing Me.

That way, you can easily go back and forth between the 2 OS's as needed, or desired.

Enjoy, Chas

i have on a few occasion tried to upgrade from ME to XP pro with too many headaches to mention,just a little tip if you decide to upgrade,do a new installation after backing up any files needed from ME.

i have been running XP pro for some time now (stand alone) and find it runs quite smoothly,but my opinion would be to go with win2k im sure at this time it would be a lot closer to what your looking for (your dream machine)

my 2 pence worth!

Since Win XP is based on Win2K (while WinME is based on Win9x), you already come out way ahead in the stability department. Music programs should give you no problems.

However, you MAY run into some problems with games that weren't specifically designed to run on XP. XP is built on NT technology. This technology prevents programs from directly accessing system devices (which is why systems running NT based operating systems are more stable than previous operating systems). Many games that were designed prior to XP being available were designed to run using Win9x technology (which runs on DOS). This technology did allow the program to directly access and manipulate system devices (mainly video, audio, and disk subsystems).

Thisis not to say that you entire library of games is not usable on XP, only that some of them may not work as expected (or at all). If you have a large library of older games, you might want to try running them on a computer running XP before buying your own copy of XP.

One word of warning since you mention that 'you already have access to a copy" of XP. Unlike previous Microsoft operating systems, OEM and retail versions of XP require activation within 30 days of installation. The activation process effectively ties a specific copy of XP (based on a valid Product Key) to a given computer (based a specific combination of hardware). If an attempt is made to activate the same copy on a different computer, it is disallowed. Having said that, you can certainly install the 'copy you have access to' and use it for 30 days to test your library of games.
Good Luck!

I recently made the switch from Windows 98SE to XP Pro. To be honest, I initially hated it. I built my own PC, and ended up having some driver issues (particularly my video card). However, after an updated driver supplied by Microsoft for that card and a couple of other little tweaks, my system is solid as a rock. It's been up since I did the update (about a month ago) without a single glitch or hiccup. Win2K pro is a stable OS, but compared to XP (which has the Win98 compatibility mode) it can't play games nearly as well. I say you go with the upgrade.

If you are mainly using your computer for programming, writing (office applications) applications, graphics intensive rendering (drawing ,etc.) then go with Win2000.

If you are also wanting to use this computer for "play" -- games, music, and such, then go with WinXP.

My own experience with computers tells me that while most people say that games are fine on 2000, it's not always the case. But I'm not going to upgrade my 2000 to XP (even though I got the XP upgrade that was promised me when I purchased the 2000 machine), because it is entirely stable. It has never crashed once in the almost year that I've owned it. I use it for rendering -- I have not been able to get any games to work on it.

So I have another 733 MHz computer with a pull out hdd drawer with WinXP on it... and it's become my gaming machine (one must play while not drawing ;-) ).

Considering that your last line says music and games -- go with WinXP Pro. I wouldn't recommend ME to anyone... and in fact, would even consider downgrading to Win98SE if XP were not available.

Rather than upgrade, I would recomend installing XP or 2000 and doing a dual boot with ME. Even though I think ME stinks, I would leave it on in case I wanted or needed to use it. Win 2000 and XP don't work with some older programs or certain games that you might have installed now. Dual boot allows you to choose the OS while booting. Dual Boot installs easily when adding Win 2000 or XP to an ME computer.

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