Introduction

Intended Audience

Surely, Windows XP is the most important release of Windows since the arrival of Windows 95. Despite the fact that it was the first OS from the Windows family that was delivered on quite a reasonable schedule, it was also one the user community waited impatiently for. It is no wonder; technically speaking, Windows XP is the next version of Windows 2000. However, it is also positioned as an upgrade for Windows 98, 98 SE, Millennium Edition (ME), 2000, and NT 4.0 users. What's more, it finally combines the traditional strong points of the two lines of Windows operating systems—the convenience, compatibility, and easy-to-use characteristics of Windows 9x/ME, and the security, reliability, and stability of Windows NT/2000. In addition, Windows XP also puts an end to the old DOS/Windows product line, since we are now dealing with a new OS, which is finally based on the new version of the Windows NT/2000 kernel. And this new approach is definitely a success, since when it comes to reliability issues, Windows XP practically outshines all its predecessors. If you don't want to see the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), you never will (unless it's your intention—one of the tips provided in Chapter 11 explains how to intentionally make the system fall into a BSOD just to see what it is).

Microsoft is releasing three editions of Windows XP: a Home Edition, a Professional, and a 64-bit Edition, the latter of which will run only on new workstations based on Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor. Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional are essentially the same 32-bit operating system, based on the same kernel. As most people expect, the Home Edition is intended for the vast majority of end users who previously worked with Windows 9x/ME. Windows XP Professional, on the contrary, is targeted at business users and power users. Because of this, it offers some business-oriented features and additional capabilities unavailable in Windows XP Home Edition, since they would be out of place in a home system. The most significant difference is, of course, multiprocessor support: Windows XP Home Edition supports only one processor, while Windows XP Professional supports two. Furthermore, users of Windows XP Professional can logon to Active Directory domains, work with roaming user profiles, use the encrypting file system, Offline Folders, and other features particularly important for mobile users.

I became a member of a small team of Windows XP beta testers when the system was an early beta. Even at that early stage of beta testing, we could see that there were differences between Windows 2000 and the two systems, codenamed "Whistler". It was an amazing experience to see how the system improved with the release of each new beta or Release Candidate. To generalize the common trend, the system became more and more powerful and reliable. However, despite all these improvements, and the fact that the system was renamed Windows XP (Windows for eXPerienced users, and one designed to provide for new user experiences), the new system didn't entirely eliminate the features that existed in Windows 2000; rather, it improved and extended this functionality while adding new tools and features. The new operating system implements all the best features of its predecessor. In this way, Windows XP continues the Windows 2000 tradition, emphasized by the "Built on NT Technology" slogan displayed at boot time. Windows 2000 had many features in common with the previous version of Windows NT, and so does Windows XP. If you examine it carefully, you'll see that it has many features in common with Windows 2000 as well.

Will thousands of users all over the world migrate to Windows XP immediately? Some probably will (especially those who get the system with the new hardware), but many others will continue using Windows 2000 while examining this new system and testing existing applications for compatibility. This book is addressed to such readers, including system administrators, technical support personnel, and experienced Windows NT/2000 users.