Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2 Complete package > Reviews (57)

Everyone's shouting about Windows XP, declaring it the greatest OS ever released - the epiphany of computing. But they're all wrong. Windows XP is going to destroy everything this fine industry has achieved in its glittering history.

For 20 years, we IT enthusiasts have been happily running DOS, then Windows 3, 95, 98, NT and even 200. And they were all great, because they gave us so much to moan about. Unexpected crashes... blue screens of death... hours of lost work. But I've been using Windows XP for around three months now, and I have to say, I'm annoyed. The damn thing hasn't crashed once. Sure, Internet Explorer falls over occasionally, but that's only a minor consolation. What's more, it seems that Microsoft is actually interested in fixing the problems, automatically prompting error reports and making the Windows Update process seamless. From the easy-t-read icons to the actually helpful Help system, there's a dreadful sense of ease of use.

Take writing a CD-R. For years, we've all had to master the various interfaces offered by Adaptec, Nero and more, and quite often the end results couldn't be read in someone else's drive. But now, you just have to put a CD-R disc into a drive and Windows invites you to open up a write able CD folder using Internet Explorer - you then just drag and drop the files onto the disc.

Then there's using a digital camera. Oh, the hours of pleasure I used to have transferring images from my camera to a Windows 98 or 2000 machine. The loading of archaic-looking software onto my PC, with only a 50/50 chance of success at the end of it. With Windows XP, I just attach the camera to a USB slot and I'm being offered a multitude of options - print to the Web, sir? Order prints online, sir? Oooh, suit you, sir.

Well no, it doesn't suit me. I want difficulty. I want frustration. I want to master the ins and outs so that my friends and family think of me as some kind of information technology guru when I manage to print photos onto an A4 piece of paper without cutting their heads off. On the photo that is.

Even worse, it's now ridiculously simple to brose through your photos. Not content with a perfectly good text description that said 'JPEG file, 507kb', Windows XP decides to show large previews of the pictures and even encourages you to view slide shows of a folder's contents. I had to attend seven three-day training courses to reach that level of competency with traditional photo-editing software. And as if all this wasn't enough, Microsoft even has the darn cheek to bundle a highly respectable photo editor free with XP.

I haven't even mentioned scanning yet. I spent years mastering TWAIN drivers, impressing onlookers by capturing an image in Photoshop. I got so good; sometimes I didn't even refer to the Help files. But now a two-year-old could do it. Attach the scanner and helpful Wizard prompts your every move. Before you know it, the image is on your PC and you're being encouraged to make T-Shirts and coffee mugs from it.

There's only one consolation for us British users, and that's the US-centric aspect of XP.

I managed to curse Microsoft several times when the set-up routine filed to notice that all my settings were British, so when it prompted me to activate my copy of XP and gave me a US free phone number to dial, strangely it didn't work. Oh, how I laughed. Then there's .NET, with its multitude of partners, the vast majority of which are based in the US, and therefore of little or no use to us Brits.

This minor triumph was rather undermined when I ordered some prints of my digital photos online. Not only was I given a choice of two companies, but they were distinctly British. The only solace I could find was that my .NET passport didn't work, with Jessops.com prompting me to enter my card and address details all over again.

But these small comforts aren't enough. Such minor glitches will be ironed out and even novice PC users will be able to print documents, transfer digital images, edit movies and buy from the Web without our help.

So I plead with you. Please, please don't buy any of the computers that come with XP. Ask for DOS 6. Beg for BeOS. Hell, FDISK the whole lot and load Linux. Then, when you buy a DV camcorder for Christmas you can enter the New Year struggling with the drivers and weeks learning to use the state-of-the-art video editing software. After all, isn't that the way it's meant to be?