I'm on Windows 2000 but want to play with the beta of Office 2007, which works on XP. Is it worth upgrading, and why? Ketlan Ossowski
Windows 2000 (Windows 5.0) and XP (Windows 5.1) are basically the same operating system, and unless you like XP's more colourful user interface, there are very few reasons to upgrade. XP's advantages include better compatibility with old Windows software and games, plus extras such as Windows Movie Maker, the built-in firewall and Remote Desktop support. The main difference is the considerable rewriting and security-hardening that went into XP SP2 (Service Pack 2). Microsoft didn't do this for Windows 2000, leaving it orphaned from a development point of view. But if you don't have any security problems, it would make financial sense to wait for Vista, or even Vista's SP1.
Note: Microsoft will support W2K SP4 until January 1, 2010, whereas Windows 98, 98SE and Me reach the end of their lives on July 11, and Windows XP SP1 on October 10, 2006. (There wasn't room for this in the print version.)
