There is a whole host of problems some of them specific to the type of chipset on your motherboard, in my case the KT133a from Nvidia. Different motherboards will have different problems, but here are just a few I experienced: a)The advanced power management of Win2K is a disaster. Sometimes the machine would go into standby and never come out of it. b)Local area network connections to non Win2k operating systems never functioned properly. Sometimes connections would simply disappear c)Certain video cards never functioned properly, most notably those from ATI. Screens would freeze up for no apparent reason d)Operating system was extremely slow to boot up e)Certain CD drives never worked properly, most notably those from Plextor f)Zip drives continually malfunctioned-would spin up start to copy and then stop. g)If you had a Raid system for your disks, installation of the operating system was a nightmare. h)Many pieces of software designed to run under Win2K, didn't. If you logged on as anyone other than the administrator, the software would not operate properly. Most notably was software from Adaptec for burning CD's. I finally gave up on Win2K and switched to Win98SE(this was pre WinXP) which worked fine. Even with its lousy memory manager it was still better than Win2K in terms of reliability. I finally installed WinXP when service pack 1 was released this past October and have experienced no installation problems and no memory management headaches and no power management headaches.
The largest is the one you just cited, the upgrade problems. MS from time to time puts out that odd duck OS that they will not support for long after the next version arrives on the scene. It's sort of the teaser of what's to come if you will. Everyone using it plays into the free beta testing outlet for MS. What you should explain to your clients is that the ability to upgrade the Home versions MIGHT not be as easy or even possible in the future when expansion/upgrade becomes the avenue. An aditional $50 or so now would make for an excellent hedge. You can easily cite the current dilema if need be. As far as other reasons, they are mostly personal preference. I have noticed that I can lock up the Home version with alternate screen setups as well as improper shutdowns. I have not been able to accomplish this with the Pro version. I am also able to diagnose the clients setup quicker when I have to pop over for service calls. Those monitoring tools are invaluable when I am providing phone support also. Being the latest also makes it the most updated in this instance. I would wager that MS will support it the most and the longest too!
Welcome to the land of "free beta test outlet" for MS. These are but a few of the problems that existed. All (supposedly and seemingly) addresed with XP Pro. I avoided the troubles by keeping most of my systems on the Win98SE platform as well as a few on the NT route. I then went from the NT setups back to the Win98SE's and a few Win2000's. But as of today, just about everything is now XP Pro'd. I am maintaining a few Win98SE setups for a few more months. But I can easily see the day when it will all be XP Pro setups.
you're crazy. my system is rock solid running win2000 pro for YEARS on a GIGABYTE MB with a KTA133A chipset. No instability, virtually no crashes, no problems. i'm driving multiple monitors too. WIN98 more stable? hahahaha ..that's joke i also have a plextor drive that operates flawlessly and uses adaptec. i have no idea what the prob is in your system but i'm running what you claim won't work without a single probs. it all works great. also every piece of trading software (and otherwise with few exceptions)i can think of installed and operates great.
Rather than start a non productive flame war here about Win2K, I suggest anyone interested in the pros and cons of it go to the amdmb.com forum sight and reach there own conclusions. If you are running Win2K and it is working fine you have no reason to change. However my previous assertion still stands. If you are building a new machine use WinXP. And yes phoenix rising, KT133a made by Via. NVidia makes graphics chips
Jperl, Thanks. I think that I will still go with win2k, since things you listed really don't bother me much except taking too much time boot it up (this is why I'm still using win98 at home). Additionally, if I buy home edition of XP, it would be an upgrade version? If so, I would have to install win98 first then do the upgrade. I always prefer clean installation, instead of upgrade.
Some confusion here. If you are building a new machine, you install the complete version of WinXP, not the upgrade. You only use the upgrade version of WinXp if you already are running a machine with win98 on it.
I have 2 machines running W2K Pro, and one boots MUCH faster than the other. The difference is the motherboard. The faster machine uses the Soltek SL-75DRV5. This mobo also has an anti-burn shield, which I'd highly recommend. Otherwise the 2 machines are identical.