ISPs Prepare for XP Magic and Bugs

Members of the ISP-Tech list dissect the Microsoft Windows XP release. On the plus side: wireless networking. On the other side: hardware incompatibilities, and nonexistent or misinformed support documentation.

[October 31, 2001]

On the ISP-Tech list in October, CB asked,

"Is anyone else concerned about fielding countless support calls once XP is rolled out?"

A number of respondents suggested that supporting the new OS will be difficult, particularly at first:

[BK warned] "It's going to be a mess. The technical stuff is buried deep, so users have less of a chance to mess things up, but you'll need to know where it is. What will be a problem is that not all Windows 95/98 hardware is compatible with XP, and drivers are slow to come out. Phone support is going to be rough at first."

[KW agreed] "Everything does seem to be there, but it's all new, with new tabs and buttons to push. I noticed that even Microsoft's site for setting up a PPPoE connection is written wrong. The XP support calls are just starting to roll in, and I already know we need to get a machine in the office that has XP on it."

[BS added] "Windows 95, 98, and Me are DOS-based; Windows XP is NT-based. So XP is going to be a radical departure for anyone who is used to the DOS-based line. Any system-related software is probably going to choke on the new OS. Even application software may get into trouble; the DOS-based line let software get away with a lot of stuff that was technically invalid. That is one of the main reasons NT is more stable: it does a better job enforcing the rules."

A few others offered a positive perspective on XP:

[JM predicted] "I see the rollout of XP benefiting home and small business users who buy new systems: this will be a good thing, as they get away from the unstable Windows 95/98/Me platform."

[DD agreed] "I'm using XP, and I can't say anything bad about it. XP has some nice features which may be useful for ISPs: much better wireless support, network configuration repairs, and driver rollback."

CB noted an additional challenge that XP may present:

"Once you install XP, you are required to call Microsoft. If you reinstall, you have to call again. If you change hardware, you have to call again. While this might seem like a slight hassle to the home user, it's a real problem in an office: reinstallations and hardware changes are a daily norm in offices. Has anyone thought how this red tape is going to change how your IT department works?"

Others contended that this may be enough to steer them away from XP:

[JL observed] "For this reason, we intend to avoid XP altogether. Thus far, we've been very pleased with Microsoft's products; all our servers currently run either NT 4.0 or Windows 2000. Unfortunately, XP seems to indicate a major misdirection that we have no intention of joining. We're finally beginning to seriously investigate other OS platforms: it looks like the end of an era."

[DD agreed] "We've decided that when we can no longer support our users on NT, we'll put Windows 2000 on our workstations, and Linux or FreeBSD on our servers."

GG noted that, for enterprise users, this won't be a problem—but that won't help smaller companies:

"MS has a corporate edition which does not have Product Activation. Unfortunately, they didn't think about people like us that support small networks and individual users. You can be sure it is going to cause a backlash."

—End