win xp or 2000

At my new office they want me to upgrade the os's for about 8 pc's and 3 notebooks with all but 2 running win98. It is a small accounting office and they think they would like to also change some of their software to network versions. Should I be thinking win 2000 or xp? Half the systems have been upgraded in the last couple of years and are fully compatible for any os I want to put on them, and the others are in of upgrades regardless of which os we pick. Ideas? Problems and pitalls I can avoid? :rolleyes:

Go with XP for the simple reason that it'll be supported longer.

Go for XP, but make sure the software the users are already accustomed to can actually run on it.

I strongly doubt the accountants would like to switch accounting software (which they tend to hold onto forever) at the same time the OS was upgraded.

Yeah, I thought xp made more sense especially since two of the newest pc's already have xp. Software compatability won't be a problem. They are all running later windows programs except for one dos time and billing program that works fine under xp. Now all I have to do is find xp at a decent price. Although newegg.com has xp pro for $143. That is not too bad.:rolleyes:

XP is a good choice, however there is one factor you have to think about, it has alot of extra's that can be distracting (media playere,msn and so on). Don't get me wrong, I think XP is a fine os, But I like 2000 for the office environement because it's no nonsense working OS. It's also a littel easier on the hardware (requierement wise).

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Originally posted by gtiseb
XP is a good choice, however there is one factor you have to think about, it has alot of extra's that can be distracting (media playere,msn and so on). Don't get me wrong, I think XP is a fine os, But I like 2000 for the office environement because it's no nonsense working OS. It's also a littel easier on the hardware (requierement wise).

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All very valid points. I concur. However, there are some downgrade rights permitted with certain purchases of XP, where you can buy the XP Pro license, but instead install a version of 98/2k/NT instead, but by maintaining the XP license for when you want get new hardware you are one step ahead. I would suggest some research there...

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Originally posted by Ya_know
All very valid points. I concur. However, there are some downgrade rights permitted with certain purchases of XP, where you can buy the XP Pro license, but instead install a version of 98/2k/NT instead, but by maintaining the XP license for when you want get new hardware you are one step ahead. I would suggest some research there...

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Damn! Good point! Wish I thought of it...

Thanks for the replies, and my next question was going to be about coa's and licensing. I found this site http://www.componentsdirect.com/deta...productID=1638 which has a decent price on the xp pro coa. So I would need to purchase a win xp pro oem full version and additional coa's for each pc, correct?

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Originally posted by cabal
Thanks for the replies, and my next question was going to be about coa's and licensing. I found this site http://www.componentsdirect.com/deta...productID=1638 which has a decent price on the xp pro coa. So I would need to purchase a win xp pro oem full version and additional coa's for each pc, correct?

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No, that would be piracy.

You can not just buy a COA and be good.

You must buy either through an open license agreement, or buy the retail kits.

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Originally posted by kannibul
No, that would be piracy.

You can not just buy a COA and be good.

You must buy either through an open license agreement, or buy the retail kits.

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Actually, that looked like a full OEM license meaning that you would be in compliance. All OEM licenses must be purchased with hardware and if you try to buy that license without hardware you get:

WARNING: ALL MICROSOFT COAs REQUIRE PURCHASE OF HARDWARE.
PLEASE ADD ONE OF THE FOLLOWING HARDWARE PRODUCTS TO YOUR CART TO VALIDATE YOUR COA PURCHASE:

Thanks for that site BTW. My licenses were costing me $115 :)

"Offical COA license sticker for XP PRO, license ONLY, No media
**End user must have Microsoft original CD Full OEM."


Does this mean a full cd for each install? If so, then you aren't saving any money, since the cd comes with the coa

Oh, I thought buying one full version and coa's for each machine was avoiding piracy, thought that how the "big boys" did it. Not that I would ever pirate software. Not me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.:D

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Originally posted by Ya_know
All very valid points. I concur. However, there are some downgrade rights permitted with certain purchases of XP, where you can buy the XP Pro license, but instead install a version of 98/2k/NT instead, but by maintaining the XP license for when you want get new hardware you are one step ahead. I would suggest some research there...

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I can only agree... In fact this is what we are doing since not all our computers are able to properly handle the extra (useless) load of XP. Even more, by having a volume license you get a corporate XP key... activation not required...

thanks for all the replies. This helps me alot. One more quick question : xp pro or xp home? I know I should be thinking pro all the way but the coa's for home are half the price of pro.

If you have a network with a domain you'll need the pro version. I am not 100% sure but I think home version has a limitation in the number of computers that can connect to it.