The Windows XP XPerience

Windows XP is Microsoft's most successful operating system ever released. Although the OS was released in 2001, it is still being updated and even sold today, making it Microsoft's longest OS on store shelves since the DOS days. Windows XP brings digital media to life, and the core of the OS revolves around the internet, pictures, videos, and communication.

Pro's

Digital Media - Microsoft's most widely spoken of feature in XP is, in fact, it's ability to handle all types of media. Music, pictures, videos, etc. can be easily organized, viewed, created, and shared through XP's inclusion of such software titles as Windows Media Player, Windows Movie Maker, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Windows Messenger. The OS also incorporates a .NET passport, or Windows Live account, heavily through the enclusion of MSN Explorer, MSN Games, etc.

Nice GUI Lift - Gone are the days of the classic grey taskbar and boring menus. Today, Windows XP features a new GUI known as the "Luna Theme". Although some refer to the theme as the "Fisher Price Look", I personally like the theme, and find it a welcome extra to the new line of features. The theme has 3 colors, Blue (Default), Silver, and Olive Green. Also, through a little bit of downloading, themes such as the Royale and Zune can be installed and used. MsStyles, free themes downloaded fom such sites as DeviantArt and WinCustomize, also give the user the ability to customize Windows exactly the way they want it, although these require a little "hacking" of the OS. The Windows Classic look can also be used, which is basically a reincarnation of the original Windows 95,98,ME theme.

NTFS File System - Windows XP now defaults to the NTFS file system, which is a much safer enviroment to work with files in, which adds security and stability to the XP platform. However, XP can also install to the original FAT file system, for machines, programs, or harddrives that require it.

Merge of Business Kernel and Consumer Kernel - Up until Windows XP, Microsoft had two product divisions that worked on two seperate "undercodings" of the operating systems. One was the DOS kernel, used up until Windows ME. This kernel was less stable, less secure, and more vulnerable to attack. The NT Kernel, which Microsoft had been using for its "business OS" (e.g. Windows NT, Windows 2000), was built from scratch by Microsoft. It was far better than DOS. In XP, all users, business and consumer, are now using the NT kernel, which means all software and and hardware is compatable no matter which version the user is using.

Con's

Windows Genuine Advantage - This is the first consumer oriented verison of Windows that now requires "activation". Although it does reduce piracy of software somewhat, it's more a nuisance than a security feature.
There are numerous cracks to get around it, and it has even labeled some legal copies of Windows "pirated", and has locked the user out of his computer.

Conclusion: Windows XP is a great operating system. It has numerous features that are hard to beat, it's hardware and software support cannot be matched, and it's overall ease of use makes interacting with your computer as simple as eating pie. Just don't copy the software, or you'll be in for some trouble.