Choosing Windows XP...

Do you know that there are 6 editions of windows xp? Most of us usually only know two editions of windows xp, i.e : Windows XP Home edition and Windows XP Professional edition. But actually there are 4 other editions, as follows :

1. Windows XP Tablet Edition
2. Windows XP Media Center Edition
3. Windows XP Professional 64bit edition
4. Windows XP Starter edition

Then end user are prone to be confused of choosing which windows xp that's right for them. For tablet user, it's easy since there is only one edition of windows xp. For desktop users, they must choose between 5 edition of windows xp. Failure to choose them will cost unsatisfaction (and money too). Through this article, I will try to provide some guide for choosing the right version ;).

If you are a home user and use your desktop pc only for entertainment, then the options can be narrowed down to 2 edition, i.e: Windows xp Home edition and windows xp media center edition. Choose windows xp home edition if you want to buy third party Movie player that you think better than windows media center have. Choose windows xp media center edition if you want to build HTPC with windows in your living room.

For power user who use computer in networking environment and needs remote access capability, then windows xp professional and windows xp professional 64bit edition are the options for you. How to choose them? Simple. If you need memory support more than 4GB, then you must choose windows xp professional 64bit because windows xp professional simply cannot recognise 4GB memory. If you insists to install 4 GB memory on pc with windows xp professional then it will be recognised as 3 G+ memory. Because 32 bit addressing will limit your usable memory address for 4G as a total in your system.

And what about windows xp starter edition? This version is only shipped to poor countries like Indonesia (my country :P), India, Srilanka, etc. This version of windows is released by Microsoft to provide people in poor country for "cheap and affordable" windows. However, this windows has been castrated and users are left with limited capabilities which make this edition is quite unpopular. I, myself, will simply choose Linux over windows xp starter edition, if somebody urges me to make decision :P. Well, $45 is still too much for limited windows edition anyway....