Windows XP: AnandTech Readers Speak-Out

Windows XP is perhaps the most controversial operating system yet to come out of Microsoft. Announced last week, it faces opponents from many angles, from competitors to consumer-activists. As with every new technology, users here at AnandTech are quite interested in this newcomer to the operating system market.

After probing the AnandTech Forums for several days observing discussions surrounding Windows XP we discovered that Windows XP was already quite widely used by AnandTech readers even before its official release. Wanting to get some input from members of the community who had already tried the system we put out a series of questions which would help gauge users' thoughts on the new system.

1) How does it change the way you use your computer?
2) Why did you upgrade?
3) If you haven't upgraded, will you?? Why or why not?
4) Do you have any favorite features?
5) What are the features you dislike?

Most of the responses we received were obtained from users with experience on prerelease platforms of Windows XP, however there were some users who had obtained a copy of the final product. Also, with the release date of Windows XP falling so recently, many users pointed out a lack of driver and platform support for the new system. This will probably change in the next month and may change the tone of some of our respondents.

Instead of trying to summarize their comments into one large conglomerate, we have chosen to present the responses to each question independently. Although some of the responses did not categorize their answers this way, we did our best to categorize any pertinent information into the correct area.

There were a variety of answers ranging from extremely positive to very negative, however; the results appear to have captured the opinions of a broad segment of the hardware enthusiast market that is partially represented on the AnandTech Forums.