Ignore the license, get Windows XP
ZDNet | at | by Mike
When Microsoft released Windows XP, most of the clients I consulted weren't ready to care--many had just finished working out the kinks in Windows 2000. Then Microsoft's new licensing program met with protest. But you'd be wrong to write off XP. One year later, it's time to give XP its due.
Redmond's new licensing scheme that pushes pre-arranged sales commitments may be shoddy, but the bottom line is that XP, although it's an incremental OS upgrade, has a number of new features that are very attractive to systems managers, especially now. But after the backlash over the new licensing, many folks were left with some misconceptions about XP, both financial and technical.
First, let's dispel some myths about the licensing scheme. At a recent conference, a client told me that buying XP forced customers to commit to a new OS upgrade every two years. Not true. All the licensing does is limit enterprise-level discounts to a two-year window. Even then, you don't have to upgrade all the initially purchased software to get the discount.