Direct from the CNET.com windows XP beta 2 review:

Difficult upgrade
While we're talking compatibility, though, our biggest beef with XP is its system requirements--they're simply massive. You need, essentially, a new or extremely recent computer, 128MB of RAM (at least; our test laptop was decked out with 320MB), 2GB of free disk space, and, if you're upgrading, you must have Windows 98 or above. In fact, Microsoft says you'll have the best experience only if you buy a brand-new system with XP preinstalled. That's a pretty hefty investment in an untried operating system. Unless you're planning to buy a new system when Windows XP hits the shelves, your XP experience likely won't be as smooth as Microsoft hopes. Though Windows XP may be, as Gates and company have said, the most important release since Windows 95, it's not an upgrade you should consider lightly.

Man this Sucks!!!

When will Windows Xp come out?? anyone know the exact date?

I think in the fall.

Beta2 Build 2462a is out there today - I will have a copy later this afternoon - will be installing it later tonight

i for one wont be buying xp if in fact they do what they have said and basicly make it hard for you to do any major upgrades with their hard ware key bs it is not going to be worth the hassel to even if they allow you to upgrade with out rebuying call then every time you want to upgrade say your mother board or cpu.

i wish someone made osX for PC that's a great OS from what i hear! too bad it's for mac! LOL

quote:Originally posted by wiesiur:
Beta2 Build 2462a is out there today - I will have a copy later this afternoon - will be installing it later tonight

Where did you get a copy of XP?? Is it the full version? Can I get a copy or is it only for certain people?

Where can one Get a beta copy?

You can get a beta copy one three ways
1. Join the beta program and get a legal copy, sorry, no link. Try MS's site

2. Find an illegal ISO for download and snag it.

3. Find a generous individual to send you a copy.

But with such high system requirements, do you really want it?

I have a friend who has access to MSDN - he gets all the MSFT crap for me - thanks

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/preview/default.asp

wiesiur, since you have a copy of the beta what system requirements have you encountered for this program??

I have almost all the Beta's *illegally*, whooops, I hope Microsuck isnt around. Anyhoo, THE NEWEST ONE IS THA BOMB! Its a pain to keep up with the beta thought!

quote:Originally posted by novaflare:
i for one wont be buying xp if in fact they do what they have said and basicly make it hard for you to do any major upgrades with their hard ware key bs it is not going to be worth the hassel to even if they allow you to upgrade with out rebuying call then every time you want to upgrade say your mother board or cpu.

Yeah that seems pretty ridiculous especially since there will be a hack anyways no matter what they do.

Maybe this will finally put the final nails in the MS coffin.

MS is not doing as great as it once was and is moving headquarters to reduce costs I hear. Also notice how poorly they have done in stock market even before collapse. To top it off their new products really add no real value. Is win2k any better than NT? Is windows 98 really any better than windows 95? The only reason people 98 is because it comes with computers anyways and becuse of hardware support. Now they are repackaging the same NT that's a port of the old VAX in pretty little packages and expect people to pay 200-300 bucks for it. The real reason they want to charge by month year is to make it more attractive to update to the newest releases because you never ever own their software. 98 SE and ME were fairly big flops are far as upgrades go and people have learned their lesson about being early MS adopters, or for that matter early adopters of most software product releases.

It just takes more and more hardware to run their OSes, and I can't see much of a gain.

quote:Originally posted by bryce777:

Is win2k any better than NT? Is windows 98 really any better than windows 95?

Yes, I would have to say win2k is really better then nt 4. The 95 98 jump i would have to say its just featchers that was added on 98. There still the same, could be wrong on that though.

You forgot the option, "get it from work". Most high-tech companies subscribe to the Microsoft beta programs, to make sure that their hardware and software will work when the OS is released.

Ask your friendly sysadmin for a CD, or check the developer download sites for a copy. Just be sure to have a "justifyable business purpose" made up in case anyone asks why you need it

quote:Originally posted by Bateluer:
You can get a beta copy one three ways
1. Join the beta program and get a legal copy, sorry, no link. Try MS's site

2. Find an illegal ISO for download and snag it.

3. Find a generous individual to send you a copy.

But with such high system requirements, do you really want it?

quote:Originally posted by richardginn:
I think in the fall.

All righty then, does this mean it's already been released for those of us that live in the southern hemisphere.

I have a copy of it for anybody that is interested.

my icq is 69685082

Keep it Real

why is everybody complaining anyways , we all of have computers that can run it anyway right .

Keep It Real

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bryce777:

" Is win2k any better than NT? Is windows 98 really any better than windows 95? The only reason people 98 is because it comes with computers anyways and becuse of hardware support. Now they are repackaging the same NT that's a port of the old VAX in pretty little packages and expect people to pay 200-300 bucks for it. 98 SE and ME were fairly big flops are far as upgrades go..."

I have a P4 that came with WinME, should I bother with the hassle of switching to Win2000, or perhaps this WinXP? BTW I find under WinME, you still end up with the memory drain after surfing around with several open browsers that I used to get under Win95...(i.e. your RAM gets used up, not to be returned unless you reboot, eventually).

~thunder

I'm not so sure that all 10,000 plus people that post here have the requirments to run this piece of Bloatware.

quote:Originally posted by richardginn:
wiesiur, since you have a copy of the beta what system requirements have you encountered for this program??

About a PIII 733mhz or higher with at least 256meg of RAM - I have not had a chance to test it - just installed - runs perfectly fine on my AMD 1200, 512meg of RAM, G450 Video, Asus a7v133 board

no offense to anyone(even the witless tools that happen to work for monstersoft), but man, XP's GUI looks like utter SHIT!

it's still 32 bit OS right? is it just without the DOS? what is this? i thought win2k was the reasonable next step in the microcrap saga...

which gets me to thinking... why the hell did they come out with ME? (asside from making money) arent they trying to kill off the 9x line?