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Microsoft Windows XP Professional

The two major editions are Windows XP Home Edition, designed for home users, and Windows XP Professional, designed for business and power-users. XP Professional contains advanced features that the average home user would not use. However, these features are not necessarily missing from XP Home. They are simply disabled, but are there and can become functional. These releases were made available at retail outlets that sell computer software, and were pre-installed on computers sold by major computer manufacturers. As of mid-2008, both editions continue to be sold. A third edition, called Windows XP Media Center Edition was introduced in 2002 and was updated every year until 2006 to incorporate new digital media, broadcast television and Media Center Extender capabilities. Unlike the Home and Professional edition, it was never made available for retail purchase, and was typically either sold through OEM channels, or was pre-installed on computers that were typically marketed as "media center PCs".

Microsoft Windows 2000

With its responsive user interface and improved reliability, Windows 2000 Professional is truly the most appealing version yet of Microsoft's operating system. Provided you have the hardware to run it (at least 64 MB of RAM is required), you won't find a better, more serious OS for business computing.

If you are upgrading from previous editions, the Windows 2000 wizards are particularly useful; they'll detect all your software and possible compatibility problems before you make the switch. In testing, our upgrade for a laptop was smooth and sure, and all previously installed software was automatically brought onboard to the new version.

Previously, Microsoft offered only limited support for notebook users within Windows NT 4.0. Windows 2000, however, allows most recent laptops to take advantage of power-management features, plug-and-play standard, plus recent hardware advances, such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB), IrDA for infrared devices, and FireWire. All these improvements mean that Windows 2000 will run on a greater array of systems.

There are some unexpected additions, too. You can also "hibernate" your Windows 2000 notebook to save and restore your work quickly as you go out on the road. In addition, this new OS adds more support for working offline with data saved from the Internet. (The Windows 2000 version of Internet Explorer 5.0 and Active Desktop, which allows you to access Web content from the desktop, are bundled here too.)

Besides support for mobile users, Windows 2000 beefs up reliability and greatly reduces the need to reboot as you update drivers, settings, and the like. Although you can still expect your Linux friends to brag that their favorite OS is even more reliable, the ease of configuration in Windows 2000 and its new-and-improved reliability make for an excellent choice for any serious computer user. Of course, if your business is using Windows 2000 Server on the back end, you will also benefit from easier installation and configuring of software, since these tasks can now be automated by remote administrators.

In all, Windows 2000 is a great-looking operating system, with a slick visual style, a responsive user interface, and plenty of power beneath the hood. For desktop and mobile users, it's a state-of-the-art choice for running today's Windows applications and for getting to the Internet.