The Windows XP operating system was launched last week after much hype by Microsoft. If you looked past the big push by Bill Gates and, of all things, a Sting concert in Manhattan, you might have had a chance to focus on the actual product itself -- which I did. And after some serious testing, here is my verdict. Windows XP (not to be confused with Office XP, the word processing and spreadsheet program launched earlier this year) is the most useful advance of an existing Microsoft product since Windows 95 changed the computing world.

If you are buying a new PC, then you will almost certainly have the option of getting it with XP installed (if not having it be the installed system that the PC ships with). The question about whether it's worth getting it matters more if you want to upgrade your current operating system. My tests were of the home edition of XP, which costs $99 if you are upgrading (the more complicated professional edition costs $199 to upgrade).

Here are just some of the features to note.

STABILITY: With almost all previous versions of Windows, the PC would crash regularly and require you to reboot again and again. XP virtually eliminates this problem, making your computer time much less frustrating. This alone is worth all the hype. Microsoft promised to make XP more stable than its predecessors and it did just that.

INTERFACE: XP has a cleaner, better thought-through interface, with more options for displaying information.

FAST USER SWITCHING: XP allows multiple users (say, parents and children) to share one PC, but have different user profiles, with their own Web favorites, programs, etc. And no need to log on and off to switch between users; it can no be done in seconds through the fast user switching feature.

MULTIMEDIA: The music and video features have been greatly improved in XP and cater to digital entertainment buffs.

ACTIVATION: Unlike other pieces of software, which you can install on more than one of your OWN PCs, Microsoft is determined to cut down on that sort of sharing and will allow you to install it only on one PC. So if you have a laptop and a desktop at home, you need to buy one copy for each. The operating system needs to be "activated" or unlocked, using the Internet (or a telephone call), and that keeps it from being used on more than one computer at the same time. The old versions prohibited sharing, but was never enforced. Right now, there is no multiple copy discount available, though Greg Sullivan, lead product manager for XP (must be one of the busiest men in a busy company right about now) assured me that the company was working on a discount and would have a system for it next year.

DEFAULT SERVICES: Critics of the company have also taken issue with the fact that many of the default features automatically launch Microsoft products and services. I found you can work around most of these, but I can understand the frustration some folks feel.

Overall, I am pleased with what XP delivers and think it will make the lives of everyday users easier. And that's the most important thing.

The official site is -- surprise, surprise -- http://www.windowsxp.com . Here are some in-depth reviews from PC Magazine and from The Wall Street Journal.

Do write in to techguru@sree.net and let me know about your thoughts on Windows XP.

 

Send your feedback -- and ideas for coverage: techguru@sree.net

Sree's Site of The Week

Ajeeb.com
http://www.ajeeb.com

As you may have recently read, Al Jazeera, the controversial Arabic all-news channel, is going to launch an English-language version of its site -- aljazeera.net, not dot-com -- next year.

If you can't wait that long to see what Al Jazeera and other Arabic sites are saying about the war in Afghanistan and beyond, then Ajeeb is the site for you. It provides instant, free translation of Arabic web sites into English.

Like FreeTranslation.com and world.altavista.com, which do two-way translations for English and French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc, Ajeeb gives you what is known as a "gist" translation. Basically allowing you to get the flavor of the wording, if not an exact translation. Useful stuff when you know no Arabic at all.

You can go through either the front page of Ajeeb.com and click on "Translation" (using the "Translate" box at the front of Ajeeb.com will not give you an English translation, so make sure you find your way to that inside page). You then type in the URL of an Arabic site and it will go to work on all the HTML text on the page, not the graphics themselves (for example, on the Poynter page you are reading now, the words "Web Tips" and "Archive" are graphics, but "Translating Arabic Sites" and "By Sreenath Sreenivasan" are in HTML).

I have been using it to visit AlJazeera.net, AlAhram.org.eg (the big Egyptian Paper) and www.bbc.co.uk/arabic (BBC's Arabic-language Web site). I almost never venture beyond the headlines, but that's enough to get a sense of what's going on.

Ajeeb.com
http://www.ajeeb.com

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