Digital BW, The Print

Cleavis writes:

> A few concise comments about Win2k vs. XP would
> be greatly appreciated.

Windows 2000 emphasizes stability and security.  Windows XP emphasizes
functionality and user-friendliness.  The former OS targets mostly a
business market, the latter OS targets mostly a home market.  However, there
is a great deal of overlap between the two systems, which are both based on
the Windows NT family of operating systems.  They are both vastly superior
to the pure consumer versions of Windows (Windows 95 et al.).  Both are rock
stable.

> Obviously the source of the question would stem
> from the upgrade requirements for PS CW (8) from
> a Win98 machine.  In looking at some reviews it seems
> the XP takes up quite a bit of memory and don't
> read much about the Win2k.

They both take up a lot more memory than consumer versions of Windows.  Both
should support Photoshop without any problems.  I even run Photoshop on the
Home Edition of Windows XP (because that's what came with the box), and it
runs just fine.

> Was thinking of reformatting the hard drive anyway and
> thought it would be best to install new system if I'm
> going to do all that.

You gain a great deal of stability and security by moving from Windows 9x to
Windows XP or 2000.  You may lose a bit of compatibility with very old
applications.  These NT-based systems also tend to use more resources on the
machine, although most machines nowadays have resources to burn.

Note that for Photoshop, you can never have too much RAM.