Windows XP, which version.... Home or Professional?
OK, so you are considering Windows XP.... but which version do you want/need, and what is the difference between the two? I'll list the differences between the Home Edition and Windows XP Professional.
Windows XP Professional is a superset of Home Edition: It has everything from Home Edition, and then a few things were added. These include:
- Greater security, including the ability to encrypt your files and folders, using NTFS file system, which allows you encrypt individual files or folders for local security.
- Access control. User(s) with Administrator privileges can limit access to resources, including files and directories.
- Remote Desktop. Remotely access your Windows XP Professional PC, from another Windows PC, so you can work with all of your data and applications while away from your PC.
- Offline Files and Folders. You have access to files & folders on a network share when disconnected from the server.
- Multi-processor support. Windows XP Professional supports up to two microprocessors (Home Edition only supports a single processor).
- Backup and Automated System Recovery (ASR). Another Professional only feature is the ability to "ASR-enable" your backups. An ASR-restore can be triggered from Setup, which allows you to return your system to its previous state. ASR is useful when hardware (for example a hard disk) needs to be replaced.
- Domain membership. Windows XP Professional can be used to logon to a Windows Server domain.
- Group Policy. This simplifies the administration of groups of users or computers, and is not supported on Home Edition since Home Edition cannot be used to logon to a Windows Server domain.
- Roaming User Profiles. Let you access all your documents and settings no matter where you log on.
- Remote Installation Service (RIS). Windows XP Professional includes support for remote operating system installations where desktops can be installed across the network.
- Software Installation and Maintenance. Windows XP Professional supports automatic install, configure, repair, or remove of software applications.
- Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI). Let you change the user interface language to get localized dialog boxes, menus, help files, dictionaries, and proofing tools etc. all in a single install.
- Internet Information Services. Windows XP Professional includes the IIS Web server 5.1 software.
I think that the Home Edition will serve most users just fine. At the start of Windows XP's development, the Home Edition version didn't support Multiple monitors, but this has since been added. If you don't need (most of) the features listed above, you could save yourself around $100... that's the difference between the two versions.
If you want to use the Upgrade version, you have to realize that there are some previous Windows versions which would require an upgrade to Professional. A Home Edition upgrade is not supported for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 Professional. Here's the full list of upgrade options:
Previous Version | Windows XP | Windows XP |
Windows 3.1 | NO | NO |
Any Evaluation Version | NO | NO |
Any Server Version | NO | NO |
Windows 95 | NO | NO |
Windows 98/Windows 98 SE | YES | YES |
Windows Me | YES | YES |
Windows NT 3.51 | NO | NO |
Windows NT 4.0 | NO | YES |
Windows 2000 Professional | NO | YES |
Windows XP Home Edition | YES | |
Windows XP Professional | NO |
As you can see from the above table, Microsoft will make available a Home Edition to Professional upgrade, but I haven't been able to find pricing of this upgrade.
In the end, for most people the price would be a big deciding factor. The Estimated Retail Price (ERP) of Windows XP Home Edition is $199.99 for the full version, and $99.99 for the upgrade, while the ERP for the full version of Professional is $299.99, and the upgrade is $199.99.
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