The Chronicler's Web (TCW)

by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 29 January 2010 @ 22:10 UTC

WEAVERVILLE, NC – Windows XP® Operating System by Microsoft Corporation™ is the flagship operating system for the desktop that this company has developed since earlier versions of Windows® were developed, such as Windows 95/98/NT and 2000 Professional. This OS comes in four versions but the corporate version of this OS is Windows XP Professional and the corresponding home user version is Windows XP Home Edition. What advantages might you find in the Windows XP Professional and Home Edition OS over the use of another OS that you currently use or might consider using?

Yager (2001) indicates that Windows XP improves the overall stability, security, and performance of corporate desktop and laptop computers. Built on the Windows 2000 core, Windows XP does a better job of cleaning up after applications that forget to free up valuable system resources and, as a result, it’s much harder for applications to freeze up or hang in Windows XP. In addition, in Windows XP, if an application does hang, this OS has the capability for you, as the user, to terminate the application without closing all running applications on the user’s desktop using the Task Manager feature. Furthermore, users will spend less time rebooting with Windows XP as well as calling for technical support, and more time enjoying the experience of using this OS. Windows XP ships with over 12,000 device drivers in its driver library and, thanks to developer guidance from Microsoft, the user rarely has to reboot the OS after installing a new driver for a device that this truly Plug-n-Play OS finds attached to the PC. Also, device drivers installed in Windows XP don’t have the power that they used to have to crash an operating system. Windows XP clearly beats out the competition when it comes to installing hot-pluggable interfaces, such as PC cards, USB devices, and IEEE-1394 (Firewire) interfaces. The transparent encryption built-into Windows XP permits the user to access his/her files using file access that is controlled by strong security that is user-friendly unlike other OSes, such as UNIX, Linux, BeOS, etc. Windows XP has a built-in firewall that helps PCs that access foreign or broadband networks. And, another very important feature of Windows XP is that it has a built-in Remote Access Server, which provides technical support personnel or others more familiar with the OS administrative and supervised access to their desktop to troubleshoot and correct any problems they might encounter.

Russell (2007) identifies the top 10 advantages of Windows XP over other Oses to be: (1) hardware support, specifically with driver availability; (2) support for on-line and off-line gaming; (3) enhanced security the OS provides; (4) support for the most popular suite of office products, Office 2003/2007; (5) user-friendly wireless networking capabilities; (6) software availability for the OS; (7) extensive user help resources available via Microsoft and its associated forums; (8) computer availability associated with the OS; (9) plug-n-play support; and (10) guaranteed support for the OS through its lifecycle.

According to a Ziff Davis Enterprise survey conducted in 2008, 92 percent of users indicated that their primary OS of choice was Windows XP and 72 percent said that the OS they’re using now will be the OS that they will be using in 2009 (Donston, 2008). Microsoft has extended support for Windows XP from 2009 out to 2014 as a result of corporate users who were unwilling or unable to migrate to Windows Vista because they were happy with the current OS or their hardware was incapable of running on Vista, respectively.

One of the biggest advantages that I see that Windows XP has over other competitive OSes is the fact that this OS can run almost all the applications ever written for the Intel-based PC, dating back to the VisiCalc spreadsheet application that was introduced in 1981 when the PC revolution started (Mendelson, 2006). Although some of these applications may tend to run slowly in Windows XP, there are add-ons developed by Microsoft that will allow them to run more quickly or to run at all for those that wouldn’t run initially.

Finally, Boling (2010) indicates the Windows XP OS has many advantages over its predecessors and other OSes in that it is more stable, more secure, more reliable, is a self-repairing OS, and has several new features that enhance the overall user experience. Among these user enhancements include: (1) revised Start Menu; (2) enhanced Task Bar; (3) the introduction of skins called XP Themes that allow the user to change his/her desktop interface to suit their needs; and (4) a new feature called Fast User Switcher, which allows two or more users to be logged on and access the same PC at the same time.

Microsoft developed Windows XP as a revolutionary new operating system built with Xtreme Programming in mind, and was the first Win32®-based operating system designed for both office and home use (Boling, 2010).

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References:

Boling, D. (2010). Windows XP Overview: Take Advantage of New Windows XP Features in Your Apps Today. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from MSDN Magazine: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc302210.aspx

Donston, D. (2008). Companies loath to give up XP. eWeek, 25(9), 16. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Mendelson, E. (2006). Run Legacy Apps In XP. PC Magazine, 25(11), 106. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Russell, D. (2007, July 11). Top 10 Advantages of Windows XP. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from Spontaneous Monotony: Blog about news, politics, computers, and the Internet: http://www.davidarussell.co.uk/2007/07/11/top-10-advantages-of-windows-xp/

Yager, T. (2001). Microsoft Windows XP. InfoWorld, 23(49), 50. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

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Dan Calloway