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The subscription service is primarily for corporate use. It provides a way for the business to purchase multiple licenses much cheaper than they currently can. It also insures that they are running the latest version of the software without having to purchase upgrades. Users will still have the option to purchase single-license stand-alone software. Also, the software will still be purchased on a physical disk (when bandwidth issues are dealt with, I'm sure they will offer downloads as well.) However, like Windows XP, the user will register that copy with Microsoft. They can then purchase as many licenses for that software as necessary. Each license will work on a specific machine. As long as they continue to offer stand-alone versions, I think the subscription plan is great. If they try to force it on everyone they will see a huge backlash from the consumer market. They know this, so I don't see it happening any time in the near future.

It is like the PEP & Transcenders tests.

Homi, I believe the newest 4-in-1 driver from VIA deals with the AGP problems of the previous drivers.

All of the above. The Home Edition and Professional have a release date of June. The Server versions will be released later. The first Server version should see light about 3 months after the initial release. XP has everything that 2000 has. Mix Windows ME features into that. Slap the Luna interface on. Then add a bunch of nifty features like concurrent logins to the mix. Windows XP is really shaping up to be an astounding OS. I'm definitely looking forward to it's release. I figure I'll be an early adopter of this one too, just like I was with 2000.

Nope, there currently isn't any way to slipstream anything except service packs. I'm hoping this will change. As Paul said, you can copy the files over and install from the CD. Another options would be to install Windows 2000, SP1, DX8, and IE6 then ghost the system. Otherwise, you're pretty much out of luck.

I tend to avoid Maxtors like the plague. My experience has always been that they are extremely loud and have a life-span of about a year (if you're lucky.) Seagate used to be just as bad. Then they purchased Conner. This brought about much better drives from Seagate. Before they were bought-out, I used Conners almost exclusively. The only real complaints I have heard about the new IBM drives is that they are a bit on the loud side. I'm currently running a Western Digital 40GB ATA-100. I've always had good luck with them. Fugitsu also puts out a very reliable drive. But they have fallen behind everyone else in speed and size recently. I'd suggest going with either the WD or IBM.

Yep, I'm talking about Micron ram. Heck, any make of ram. Intel's boards will begin supporting DDR ram by the end of the year. All of the memory manufacturers will want to unload their SDRAM once this happens. In fact, I figure Crucial's sudden price drop in SDRAM comes from the fact that they want to keep it cheaper than DDR ram. When they came out with their PC1600 ram they had to drop their SDRAM prices to keep the demand up. There will probably be a price stagnation coming up, but I expect another large drop in SDRAM prices in the not too distant future.

The easy explaination for your problems is that you didn't set it up right. The graphics industry is the slowest to accept any changes. I have to deal with these headaches constantly. It is due to the poorly written, proprietary garbage most of these companies call programs. This is especially true for small market, specialized programs. Graphics hardware follows the same thinking. They produce poorly managed hardware that works in only perfect conditions. Wacom tablets are a great example of this. As are slide scanners, tablet scanners, and most digital camera interfaces. You have commented on how the graphics package you use is constantly upgraded. This is because problems probably constantly occur. Take the Play Trinity TV editor for example. After several years they have finally brought out a somewhat stable, marginally usable system. What OS do they recommend? Windows NT 4.0 sp5. Why? Because in order to recommend anything else they would have to a) actually test their software on another platform and b.) hire some competent programmers to not only fix the glaring problems they still have but take advantage of a new OS. I have a feeling your problems come from not having the correct drivers for your hardware. Specifically for the SCSI interfaces. As for the problems with your Dell laptop, I'd have to say user inexperience. I've seen several successful installations on the same laptops. And I've had nothing but success with the Dell equipment we use. I think where everyone has a problem with your comments is the fact that you try to bring them across as law. I'd say that you are the exception. Most rollovers to Windows 2000 work very well. And in the case of AutoCAD, I haven't been told of any issues from anyone I know running it. Worst case senario, give Win2K a try. If it doesn't work out, Microsoft has a return policy just like any other software producer.

Sorry, Vampyr. I'm sure my 7 year old nephew would think it was hilarious. Maybe I'm just not smoking enough pot before I read these things.

Well, it certainly won't hurt anything. It really depends on if you want to spend the extra money. You probably won't see any performance difference between 256 and 512. I'd suggest getting one 256 meg stick for now. SDRAM keeps dropping in price. You may be able to pick up a second 256 meg stick for around $50-60 (or less) six months down the line. So, unless you plan on hosting a Quake III server or running CAD software, 512 will probably be overkill. The only reason I purchased 512 is because I test a lot of various software apps. So the extra memory means I can run it through its paces better. Especially when I'm testing for software conflicts. Since I'm going to have to test more graphics oriented programs in the future, I wanted to be ready for them.

The Release Candidate came out last week. I'd say give it about another week and a half to two weeks.

256 is plenty if you aren't doing graphics intensive stuff. I just upgraded mine to 512, but that is more for future expansion than anything else. That and I figured I might as well max it out while I was at it.

Intentional? Yes. Funny? No. This is a prime example of why they should not allow just anyone to have a web page.

Yep, you're right. I thought it did. In fact, 3dFX's original specs called for it to have TV-out. And I've seen several places offering the card advertise TV-out. Like this one. Oh well. The only one I have had a look at outside of the box was the OEM card. So I figured that was where the difference was. Evidently the only one that has anything besides SVGA support is the MAC version. It supports DIVX too.

Load Balancing is a server function. The ISP's server is using Load Balancing. But for a client I don't know of any way this would work. Unless a.) there is software running that specifically supports it and b.) the ISP permitted it. A is a possibility somewhere down the line, B will probably never happen.

Are you using compression or encryption on the NTFS drive?

Also, try defragmenting your hard drive.

Check 3Com's site for a more recent driver. They had some issues with Windows 2000 when it first came out. The modem should have come with a setup wizard that will check their site for you.

The card should work fine. But find out which one you will be getting. The retail version has TV-out. The OEM version does not. At $130 I'm sure it is the OEM version. Also, since 3dFX is no more, there will be no support (ie. new drivers) for this card. Games like Starcraft and RA2 are not nearly as graphics intensive as something like Quake III or Unreal. You may want to look into getting one of the 32MB GeForce cards. They will be more than adequate for what you are running.

It isn't just the Abit board. The 815 chipset only handles 512meg RAM. I just maxed mine out today. But considering my PIII 450 only had 128meg (until I pumped it up to 256 today), I'm not going to complain. Running at a heavy load, my system still has 400meg to spare.

Well, right now you can get a 256meg stick of RAM from Crucial for $96.29. And we're talking 133MHz CAS-2 stuff here. I'd advise going for the RAM first. It will make the most noticable difference. And if you are using Windows 2000, it won't correctly support ATA-100 drives until SP2 is released (hurry, Microsoft. hurry!) Just be sure to yank the older RAM when you install the new stuff. Otherwise it will be clocked down to the old speed.

The benefit comes from not having your Administrator account become corrupted. There is always a risk of corrupting some of the files in a profile while you are using it. While this is a bit less likely in 2000 than in previous versions, it still happens. Because of this, it is best to create a seperate account and only use your Administrator account if needed.

Upgrading from the eval version will cause you no problems. This was done so you could upgrade to the full version after the evaluation without losing anything. So upgrade away.

The ME line should be set to the drive it is installed on. So if you have it installed on C:, it should be: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)C:\="Microsoft Windows Millenium" At least, I think that's correct. It's been a while since I've done a dual-boot.

The easiest solution would be to get a mouse with programmable buttons. Or you could just glue your CTRL key down so that it is always active.