Windows XP: AnandTech Readers Speak-Out

If you haven't upgraded, will you?

This was perhaps the most important question for users who had not yet upgraded. Also, some users had told us they installed on a laptop or some other less frequently used system to demo the software before they made the plunge.

In all, the majority of respondents said they would upgrade. Many users replied that after trying the system on one PC, they were prepared to install it on all of their computers. Many users emphasized that they were impressed with features of the new system, though some expressed concern that the system is still to immature both in driver support and stability.

"I will upgrade the other systems as soon as more drivers are released for XP."
-- Christopher Dudek (Nightfall)

"I am going to upgrade … I don't think that there is anything bad about Win XP. And I couldn't say no and I was curious."
-- Jacob (Athlon4All)

Although the system appears to be popular with the majority, many users expressed a general distaste for the new system, usually stemming from concerns over the issues of Software Activation and licensing that are prominent in any discussion of Windows XP. At least some of the responses were critical that the new system did not implicitly allow the user to violate licensing agreements. Several users explained that the improvement from Windows 2000 to Windows XP did not warrant the high price tag placed on the new system. Combine these concerns with notable decreases in performance as we saw in our initial testing of the system and there are convincing reasons to avoid upgrading if the new features are not compelling.

"I do not plan on upgrading from Win2k to XP because I don't think that XP offers any features or improvements that make a enough of a difference to warrant upgrading my system. With that said, I would not hesitate to upgrade my computer at home from 98 to XP because XP is much more stable and has more (and better) features than 98."
-- (Soccer55)

"Win2k is probably the last MS OS that will remain in my boot schemes. I'm not fond of the newest new licensing structure at all."
-- (Flawedecision)

"I will not run XP due to activation situation"
-- Charlie Gilsten (gil11542)

"No, Win XP does not come with the necessary applications for networking with multiple platforms easily. Putting the OS into a Windows network should not be a problem, but adding it to, and using it with, a UNIX environment would be much simpler if Microsoft accepted standards which include SSH."
-- (n0cmonkey)

"I will buy XP when I can load the one copy on all of my machines at home and forget about the activation thing "
-- Horace Granero (GrumpyMan)

"I would love to upgrade … but the cost is prohibitive for me. I can't afford the professional (nor the home) version right now. I think it is actually worth the money for the improvements Microsoft has made, but for some, the cost of upgrading is just too high."
-- Kenn de Mello (Vadatajs)