Win98 or XP
 

I am building a new computer and I am wondering what Windows OS I should put on it. Windows 98 or Windows XP? What are the disadvantages on XP?

Re: Win98 or XP
 

I still like 98.  Service pack 1 is coming out for XP soon and will help it but I don't like the mandatory "product activation" or registration for home edition.  It looks like crap unless you tweak the thunder out of it but it does have some neat new utilites.  Avoid ME by all means and I think win 2k is too slow for a home user (IMHO).  XP would be the only other one I would think about other than 98 but that's a close race.  I've had some problems with games on XP even with the compatiblity options.  

Re: Win98 or XP
 

XP is way faster than 98 on most instances and is just as tweakable as 98. Sorry, to contradict you Savage, but Win 2000 isn't slow as it is the fastest MS OS yet, as long as it is on a comp above 300-350mhz. It even runs faster for me than Redhat 7.3.

• XP has much better stability
• better up-and-coming support and fixes, etc. (even though its already better)
• Compatability is about on par with 98. not as much as ME, but who wants ME?
• if you stick w/ MS in future, more likely to be able to upgrade

i have had every MS OS and 98 is better on slower comps, but if yours is above 300, stick with XP, because it is also as resilient as Windows 2000. I screw with all sorts of setting, and if something is screwed up with 98, you reformat and reinstall. but with XP, just cancel certain services and you can fix it in a heartbeat.

[glow=orange,2,900]ALSO: Tip - If you install something in XP or 2k, and it tells you to restart, in most cases, if you click Ctrl+Shift+Esc, you get to the taskman and you just need to go to proccesses, click explorer.exe (not iexporer.exe), End process, and then click the tab for applications, new task, type explorer & ENTER. No reboot necessary[/glow]

Re: Win98 or XP
 

I'l say 98. But do whatever you want. XP does have it's advantages

Re: Win98 or XP
 

Well, to me the 'disadvantage'  ( one atleast ) to XP is the file/program arrangement, hardly at all different than Win 3.1 , if you remember 3.1, XP is about the same. Hard to find programs, as they seem to be mobile and go someplace to hide. I'm sure you  could take the time to learn how to defeat this severe problem but I haven't yet purchased XP, as that was the first thing that turned me off. MS went back to about 1990 and used some of ver 3.1 features , which would be oblivious to those who never used it, " the more the things change, the more they stay the same ".

Re: Win98 or XP
 

Try both. Benchmark each one

Re: Win98 or XP
 

yeah ill have to go w/ 98 as well...i dont know why, but im running it right now, and im overall alright with it!  Not any big probs with it yet!!!

Re: Win98 or XP
 

micro is loosing it's desktop OS market.
since Win98 nothing serious "happened" there. WinME was a failure, Win2000 is not exactly desktop OS, WinXP has all these disadvantages.
So in certain places Win98SE is still pre-installed as default. It would be popular long time even it's 5yrs old.
Win2000 is slow indeed if you don't know to configure it properly for non-networked environment and install everything you can ... It has high requirements twice+ higher from official micro's.
WinXP needs improvement, SP would probably fix some probs, but new one would come. I think it is not the best thing to install.

You want to know about disadvantages check Windows XP :( thread by keefe.

I would recommend to go for W98 but learn about W2K too

good luck
8)

To put it blunt XP is "Micro$oft Big Brother Bloatware". 2000 will do anything that XP does without all the bloatware and spyware, a lot of tech sites have compared the two and say 2000 is slightly faster. But you asked about 98 lol. Like someone else said, 98 is still being installed on new computers, it still runs everything and it doesn't try to dominate \ dictate everything you do or use like XP does

There are many things I like about Win98SE. It is pretty stable and fast. But I'm to much of a tweaker and upgrader to put up with XP's requirement to get a new activation number from MS after only a few hardware changes or in some cases only one hardware up grade
So Win2K would be my only other choice.
I'd setup a duel boot system, Win98SE and W2K