The Blessings and Curses of Microsoft XP

By Bruce H. Nearon

Microsoft’s new operating system, XP, has been getting more and more mention in the business, financial and information technology (IT) press over the last six months. Aside from establishing brand recognition, however, most of the news offers little insight into its advantages and disadvantages.

The Sept. 3, 2001, edition of eWEEK Magazine, one of the publications I subscribe to and that is available online at www.eweek.com, included an article by Jason Brooks, “XP Sends 9X Packing,” which I found very useful in understanding XP. This review is based on Brooks’ article.

You may ask as a CPA, “I’m not a techie, I just do tax and bookkeeping work; why should I care or even know about XP?” Because CPAs are their clients’ most trusted business advisers, and they look to us for objective advice on current business issues. IT is always current in today’s business environment, where businesses constantly face the challenge of upgrading their systems. What will you tell your clients when they ask if they should upgrade to XP? If you don’t appear to be knowledgeable about it, you run the risk of your client turning to another firm for IT advice and possibly losing their tax and accounting work as well.

A firm’s ability to deal with technological change is one of the major drivers of success or failure, and Microsoft’s new operating system is an important technological change. CPAs need to be aware of XP’s key advantages and drawbacks so they can respond to it in their own practices and advise their clients accordingly.

The key advantage of XP over earlier versions of Windows, such as 3.1, 95, 98, ME and NT, is stability. A frustrating problem for almost all users of these earlier operating systems was unpredictable lockups, freezes and crashes that led to lost data and reduced business productivity. Users of XP can expect to go weeks, months or even longer without these problems. For users that have already upgraded to Windows 2000, XP offers comparable stability and reliability.

The second major advantage of XP is the ability to operate a desktop remotely from another machine running XP. This allows users to access programs, files and data on a computer in their office from a client’s office or from home. Another use of this feature is for network administrators to troubleshoot operating and application system problems without actually being physically present at the computer with the problem. This feature can help reduce network maintenance costs for the firm’s infrastructure as well as outsourced network administration of clients’ systems.

A third advantage of XP is its support for mobile computing. For laptop users, XP reduces eyestrain by tripling horizontal screen resolution, using Microsoft’s ClearType text display. XP simplifies the setup for wireless devices and also supports new wireless security standards.

Disadvantages of XP

XP has greater hardware requirements than earlier versions of Windows. In order to achieve acceptable performance, Microsoft recommends a minimum configuration of a 400 mhz Pentium III with 128 MB of RAM and 1.5 GB of hard drive space. Therefore, some sites may need to replace older machines completely.

XP offers a new desktop interface look that is task oriented. Although this new interface offers new features that simplify use, end users may need training, support and an adjustment period. However, this limitation may be overcome because XP offers an optional classic Windows 2000 interface.

Another drawback of XP, common to most new operating systems, is that some older applications may not work and may require upgrading. Before moving to XP, businesses need to contact their application vendors to determine XP compatibility.

The least attractive feature of XP is an anti-piracy scheme called Windows Product Activation (WPA) that generates a unique ID from XP’s product ID and other identification data from the machine. After XP is installed, the unique ID must be transmitted to Microsoft within 30 days. If the user makes more than six component changes, XP will no longer recognize the machine and XP will have to be reactivated again within 30 days. At this time there is no information on how much headache, if any, WPA will be for users or network administrators, let alone on the obvious privacy implications.

Conclusion

CPAs are expected to be knowledgeable about emerging technology that impacts their practice and clients. Microsoft XP is an important new emerging technology. This article has discussed some of the advantages and disadvantages of the new operating system. In the coming months Microsoft will be presenting free live seminars and previews of XP in many cities. Practitioners should consider making the time to attend one of these sessions. Also, a review of Microsoft’s XP website at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.asp is helpful for those who wish to understand the new operating system.