Windows XP is beautiful

There has been quite a bit of controversey about Windows XP, Microsoft’s next generation of Windows. Most of the discussion has centred around Microsoft’s nefarious new ways of detecting the guts of your computer and attaching your copy of XP to that computer and that computer only. A lot of people think they’ve Gone Too Far in the name of anti-piracy efforts, to the point where these “features” are going to interfere with legitimate users.

All that controversey aside temporarily, I’m happy to report that Windows XP is beautiful. Microsoft is running a preview program where, for $9.95 USD you can download a “work in progress” version of Windows XP over the Internet, burn a CD with it, and install it on your computer for 180 days.

So I bit, and took the new operating system for a ride. It is, indeed, still a work in progress, and is a little rough around the edges. However it is a much, much more sensible, well-designed and, yes, beautiful operating system than any that preceded it. It makes Windows NT and Windows 2000 look like amateur efforts.

I’ll be an upgrade customer when the time comes, nefariousness or not.