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Windows XP Gets Ready

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Editor's Note

This article names two Microsoft software programs with similar names. Windows XP is Microsoft's next version of the Windows operating system; it is due to be released in October. Office XP is Microsoft's next version of the Office application suite; it is available now.

Windows XP Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is a pre-release version of Microsoft Corp.'s next-generation Windows operating system. RC1 includes numerous bug fixes, speed enhancements and updates to the Windows Messenger client and Windows Media Player. In addition to features for all users, WinXP will offer new power management and wireless networking benefits to laptop users.

Microsoft will release two versions of WinXP on October 25. One version will address the needs of home users, the other will add functionality most requested by business users.

WinXP adds native support for 802.11b wireless networking. Setup takes less than a minute and requires minimal driver installation. WinXP includes a stateful local firewall to block specific types of incoming and outgoing Internet traffic. By default the firewall blocks all incoming traffic. System administrators and users who understand the value of Internet security will welcome this default setting.

WinXP boots more quickly than Windows 2000, by about 20 seconds. Overall, WinXP operates at about the same speed as Windows 2000 when tested on similar hardware configurations.

Dave's Opinion

I'm looking forward to the final release of WinXP, coming this fall. I currently use Windows 2000 on my primary desktop; it's more stable than Windows 98 or Me, and I'm looking forward to WinXP's performance and new features.

I'm concerned about the 802.11b wireless networking features that Microsoft will include in WinXP because it's not too difficult to crack the encryption of the 802.11b devices. They're great for home networkers; however, I don't recommend them for business clients. Cable is still the preferred medium for secure networking.

On another note, I installed Microsoft Office XP two days ago. I kept my Office 2000 installation and added the new suite. All applications work well, and the new suite hasn't caused any application crashes.

I was particularly pleased to see that Office XP's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps would read and write files in the standard Office 97 format. These files can be easily shared through our network by computers running Office 97 and Office 2000.

Access 2002 (the version in Office XP) supports Access 2000 and Access 2002 file formats. So I can read and write to our existing Access 2000 databases without affecting my coworkers. Access 2002 can create and convert files to its native 2002 format; however, they won't be fully accessible to Access 2000 users. If all this is confusing, check Microsoft's Office XP website for complete details.

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References

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updated July 16, 2001
http://dgl.com/itinfo/2001/it010716.html