bump... Also, I'm positive the disks work on Dimension and Inspiron models (likely other models, too) from '03-'05, and possibly '02 & '06. 3 disks left as of 10/6/07
Why do you need XP Pro? For the extended support beyond the next 2 years? For $149, I don't think so. Does anyone really need XP extended support? Most if not all of the extra features of XP Pro are worthless. In 2 years, won't it just be better to buy a new computer with a more battled tested Vista?
You're missing the point. XP Pro will have support for 5 years past when support for XP Home has expired... regardless of whether one needs the extra features of Pro. You can buy XP Pro now for $149, or more.. but for most Dell's you can get a Reinstallation disk from me (while supply lasts) for $20. Personally, I'm hoping to bypass Vista entirely. By the end of XP Pro, Microsoft will be on to something else and Vista will just be another painful memory like WinME.
I also hope that Vista is quickly replaced just like WinME was, but often times we're at the mercy of the public, if they gear everything towards Vista, we're going to have to have Vista.
For trading, you don't need the "latest and greatest" hardware. You could run trading rigs with XP Pro on most PC's built from about '03, to June, '08. That will be good until 2015, or later.
I doubt if it will. ME was an "upgrade" to W98 and was offered concurrently. Vista was an attempt at SHOVING IT DOWN OUR THROATS.... replacing the venerable WinXP with a product which was mostly bells and whistles and really not ready for prime time (still isn't). Vista's marketing has been an egregious and outrageous money-grab play by Microsoft and has left a bad taste. Microsoft has a lot of ego and credibility tied up in Vista because of what it is and the way it was force-fed to the public. Vista won't go away quietly, regardless of how long the problems persist.
From what I have now just googled, sounds like it would be best to bypass Bloatsoft's Vista completely and keep XP for as long as possible. Some say there may or may not ever be a service pack 1 for Vista, which I doubt would include the necessary improvements for Vista anyway, but it will have more bloat added as they say they could not cram it all in at once before Vista's release. Bloatsoft's next potential disaster will be Windows 7, formerly known as Vienna, with a rumored release date of around 01-2010. You might have to add 2-3 years of delays because of the same problems like Vista. And then add a few years of patches and fixes to that before it becomes usable for trading use. Older rumors say W7 will start from scratch instead of adding to the 2.5Gb of the 50 million lines of code that have accumulated. Newer rumors sound like W7 will be an improved version of Vista with more wow (bloat) factor and no mention of starting from scratch. Oh joy! XP sales are still in demand as MS has extended the sales of XP through June 2008 instead of 1-30-08. XP home and pro service pack 3 has been delayed several times with a preliminary release date now of 1st half of 2008.
Thanks Gnome!!! Install went perfect especially with your included instructions. PC is flying with the new hard drive - like new! T.