Need Windows

[kelean]

Hi, I need windows for a couple of reasons and I was wondering if I should buy win XP or win98. Is it saft to buy them on ebay. Any info would be appreiated.

Thanks Kelean

[Dave88]

Depends on your harware, How much space do have for wndows and how fast is the hardware?

[kelean]

Depends on your harware, How much space do have for wndows and how fast is the hardware?
I have a P-III 450 with a 8 gig hard drive

[HungSquirrel]

I have a P-III 450 with a 8 gig hard drive
98SE.

[bored2k]

Not 98, not XP: Windows 2000 Professional. Has the best of both worlds: light but powerful.
You could buy a 98 disc on eBay, but forget about an XP disc on eBay. Each disc has a unique registration number you HAVE to upload to Microsoft. If the person already used the disc, you're screwed.

[TravisNewman]

NT4 or 2000 pro. 2000 pro would run fine on that.

How much ram do you have? XP might run fine on that if you turn off themes and visual effects. My mom's 450 with 64 megs of ram ran it very well.

[bored2k]

NT4 or 2000 pro. 2000 pro would run fine on that.

How much ram do you have? XP might run fine on that if you turn off themes and visual effects. My mom's 450 with 64 megs of ram ran it very well.
I'd still go with 2K Pro. Get your Office XP manual, it says
Recommended Requirements
Win 2k : 64MB RAM
Win XP: 128MB RAM

XP is pretty usable tweaking it with tweaknow pro 2k5 though..

[kelean]

I'd still go with 2K Pro. Get your Office XP manual, it says
Recommended Requirements
Win 2k : 64MB RAM
Win XP: 128MB RAM

XP is pretty usable tweaking it with tweaknow pro 2k5 though..
I have 256 meg of ram.

[bored2k]

I have 256 meg of ram.
Unless you have a specific reason to go with XP, I suggest you don't. It starts up pretty fast, but it clutters faster than no other and gets lame slow. Forget about it been prettier because you will remove the blue themes for performance increase. And probably 2000 is cheaper.

[23meg]

2000 is the best version of windows ever. very light and very stable (for the first 6 months that is ;))

[poster_nutbag]

How much ram do you have? XP might run fine on that if you turn off themes and visual effects. My mom's 450 with 64 megs of ram ran it very well.

In my past experience, *XP* will run in 64Meg, the problem starts when you actually try and do something....

[ruben_b]

did you try wine? perhaps you haven´t to buy windows cause your applications could run with wine?!

[Shin Natsume]

i would reccomend 2000 or XP, u have enough power to run XP quite smoothly, however as previously stated, i doubt u could get a working LEGAL copy off Ebay, so u would be left with the option of buying a new version of it, u could buy 2000 off Ebay though, although im unsure how much cheaper it would be...

ciao

[nobodysbusiness]

I've been thinking about getting windows as well, but it pains me to contemplate polluting my machine with a Windows partition. The only reason that I want Windows is for Audible.com audiobooks, and it seems like such a waste to buy a new copy of Windows for one program. Maybe getting a used copy off of eBay would work for me. (I'll be sure to get W2K and not XP) Thanks for the suggestion.

[Arthemys]

XP's activation software doesn't work off of any keys or codes that are embedded in any disc, as that would be impossible seeing as every non volume copy of XP is the same as any other, pressed from the same machine.

Volume copies of XP are for enterprises that have too many Windows boxes to care about activating several hundred, or thousand times.

My two cents.

[bored2k]

I've been thinking about getting windows as well, but it pains me to contemplate polluting my machine with a Windows partition. The only reason that I want Windows is for Audible.com audiobooks, and it seems like such a waste to buy a new copy of Windows for one program. Maybe getting a used copy off of eBay would work for me. (I'll be sure to get W2K and not XP) Thanks for the suggestion.
VMWare is your friend.

[BAshworth]

Not 98, not XP: Windows 2000 Professional. Has the best of both worlds: light but powerful.
You could buy a 98 disc on eBay, but forget about an XP disc on eBay. Each disc has a unique registration number you HAVE to upload to Microsoft. If the person already used the disc, you're screwed.

Even if they didn't use the disk, if it's an OEM disk, then that license is ONLY good on that particular machine. Even if that person has uninstalled Windows from their box. Microsoft turned off automatic activation for the OEM versions, so you would have to call in to get XP activated. I got caught with this myself when I did an almost complete upgrade of my PC and tried to reinstall off the Dell disk I had. (grumble grumble)

2000 is a much better choice, however Microsoft is going to quickly stop supporting it.

[gylf]

I've been thinking about getting windows as well, but it pains me to contemplate polluting my machine with a Windows partition. The only reason that I want Windows is for Audible.com audiobooks, and it seems like such a waste to buy a new copy of Windows for one program. Maybe getting a used copy off of eBay would work for me. (I'll be sure to get W2K and not XP) Thanks for the suggestion.

Check out my thread here. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=31565&page=1&pp=10&highlight=gaming+windows)

You might be interested in the win98 liveCD link I posted there somewhere.
win98SE runs about $40.

As for those recommending 2k, I found that ME, 2k, and XP were steep enough in price (XP Pro OEM $130 @ newegg.com, 2k OEM $140) to justify getting 98SE for limited use. Note that 98 still supports DirectX for gaming, but it will not in the future. Also note that 98 and ME are no longer supported by windowsupdate.com (suprise, suprise).

EDIT: note too that you can get a FULL version (not OEM) of 98SE for $40. That means you can move it from machine to machine as you see fit w/ no XP registration hastles.

[N'Jal]

It is also possible to buy XP from a third party vendor such as Dell or HP, they get a vanilla XP and the third party is responsible for the customer support. See when you pay a stupid ammout of money it's for Microsoft customer support. You can buy a Full NON-OEM copy of XP from a third party for about 30 GBP. The catch, when it breaks you CAN'T phone MS.

Just another option

[kelean]

Ok, so its better to buy win2K pro from ebay i found a full install new for $60? I am getting confused here. So is this a good deal or not? Is it leagl?

[Arthemys]

Ok, so its better to buy win2K pro from ebay i found a full install new for $60? I am getting confused here. So is this a good deal or not? Is it leagl?
Essentially you're looking for a CD (burnt copies are infact legal) and the COA key. It's normally adhered to the side of the PC and cannot be removed easily by peeling. This is to prevent transfer of the license. In theory, that key is to be destroyed and not used again but who really cares?

The most important part of any of these auctions is obtaining a legit. COA key.