Introduction

For years now Microsoft has been developing software.  They have been criticized by competition more than a few times for selling “inferior” software products and “forcing” people to upgrade their computer systems every couple of years.  This has caused some people to threaten stop buying Microsoft’s products and a few to actually switch to another vendor.  I am a Technical Trainer and consultant from New Orleans and I’ve heard this many, many times.  In the recent months as people hear of Whistler/XP’s future release, they are beating the soap box more than ever.  Most say, “Windows 2000 just came out!  We are sick of Microsoft upgrading software and forcing you to follow in their tracks!  We aren’t going to do it!”  That sounds reasonable.  It takes a lot of time and money to invest in a product.  I used to be a Network Administrator for an offshore company based in Broussard, LA.  We had an office in Houston and no IT staff there.  Upgrades were difficult to say the least.  Most of the time, upgrades only occurred if there was a need for it. 

I am going to be writing a series on Windows Whistler/XP that will cover the Server and Client operating systems.  This article will be the first in the series aimed as an Administrative overview of Windows XP Professional edition.  In this article you will see the management improvements that XP will offer, not all of the pretty stuff that End Users find attractive.  This article will be followed by a more extensive review of Whistler Server that will cover quasi-major differences over 2000.  The last articles in the series will focus on End-User enhancements on the Personal edition and the Professional edition.  Hopefully, after reading this article, you will be able to determine if Whistler/XP will be something that your company will want to move to.