not a new system but im going to get an older system back up and running, it crapped out a few years ago and i kinda gave up on it after screwing around with it for a while, never quite figured out what was wrong, either had a bad mb or bad hd i think in the end. had it up and running again a little while back then it crapped out again. would lock up then force a reboot then after a while just gave me a bluescreen about HD problems and wouldnt' boot again.

anyway im gonna give it another shot and put a new os on it because i was using an old copy of win 2kpro at the time

the thing is im not sure which i should buy. winxp pro or vista.. ive heard a LOT of bad things about vista im concerened it might be this generations windows ME =P I know xp pro is stable and runs pretty damn well, i have it on my current comp. However i heard MS is gonna stop supporting it for some stupid reason soon. Should i just get a copy of xp pro or roll the dice on vista.. if vista will be better down the road then that might be the way to go.

im not sure if my systems up to speed on vista either if thats the way to go its an odler amd 64 4000+, K8N neo2 platinum mb, and a gig of ram and raedon 9800XT

was gonna basically use it as a 2ndary comp for my friends to play wow with me in the room i have an even older thrunderbird that i use for now but it runs like crap would ike to get this one up and running.

so which os should i gofor?

If the system is more then 2 years old go with XP. A lot less hassles. Most of the hardware in the system is probably not supported by the manufacturers anymore so do not expect drivers for Vista.

If you have old hardware then go with XP Pro SP2 you will have less problems. I am running Vista 64bit with no problems but my hardware is new. It seems Vista does not like the old legacy drivers of some of the old hardware.

Another vote for XP. Older hardware = XP. Newer hardware = Vista.
I've been running Vista32 for over a year side by side with XP and I can promise you Vista is no WinME clone. I've been very happy with it and have had zero problems.

Id agree about the hardware side of the discussion. But, what about the software issues? From my researches, my QuckBooks Pro 2006, Word 2002, and MS Money 2002 will not run properly on Vista. Who knows about other software I have. The cost of updating just those 3 probrams alone is prohibited, if I'm correct. Better spending it on anything else, including wine, women and song! Please advise re software problems and Vista.

I also would recommend going with XP Pro over Vista for an older system. Chances are the hardware in your system is not at the level needed to comfortably run Vista. Considering your system use to run Windows 2000, I believe that is the case. XP Pro should be perfect for your system.

Old hardware = XP and new hardware = XP. Vista sucks and doesn't offer anything that you need unless you want the still less than stellar DX10. Before you put that boat anchor of an OS on a system you should at least wait until SP1. I believe XP will be supported until at least 2012. They will probably get sufficient resistance so that they will probably support it a little longer just like they did with 98. What you saw was probably related to this link.
PC World - Windows XP to Be Discontinued in Early 2008

Hmm, I must be the odd one out. My family PC (formally mine) is running a Socket A Motherboard Athlon 2800 and 1GB or RAM. The system is close to 4 years old and I've had no problems with hardware not having drivers. Only problem I've had with Vista was an early Video driver problem that has been fixed for 6 months.

If its a its a good brand name Motherboard, you should have no problems.
Only think I haven't found drivers for is the Creative Sound Blaster. Just took it out and went to the onboard sound. No problems!
Just check the MF's site to see if there is drivers available.

I'm running Vista Home Premium on the family PC and on My PC am running Vista Ultimate and on the whole like them better then XP home or XP Pro.
Except the Networking, that sucks!

I vote for XP 'cause I really don't see any justification for Vista, unless you really, really, really want to play game with DirectX 10 games.

MS excluded the two best features from the release version of Vista.
1. Better security
2. More importantly, a new file system that would have made it easier to search for documents and would have invalidate many current generation viruses from what I've read.

Nah, I'll wait for MS's next OS in 2010 currently codenamed Windows 7 (formerly called Vienna). That'll mean I will be using XP for 10 years by that time.

Xp is the best OS released to date (from what ive seen, and yes i did have a vista pc, its now xp and linux).

I have Vista and all I can say is thank god for dual boot.

Vista is nice but unneeded and the whole signed driver thing is pissing me off

Go with XP or dual boot like some do

Signed drivers is also in xp. You can turn it off... its not a big deal. I prefer vista only because I've had to fix so many people's comps with spyware. So much less spyware sneaking onto newbie users comps when its a vista pc.

I also have a killer rig I built for myself that only cost 400 bucks to upgrade and is capable of playing crysis with most settings on very high. Most people i see complaining about vista say its too slow, but i'd wager its just they're comps are too old, or they're too picky.

Have daul boot system. Vista looks pretty, Have had no problems (newer Hardware, but older software (ie Office 2002 even my old dos programs that I wrote work. problem with tje older software is primarily with Vista 64 Bit and old programs that still contin som 16 Bit code.

My vote is, as most have said, go with XP.

Quote from PC world mag article
"According to the Office performance benchmarks, Windows XP SP3 is also considerably faster than Vista SP1. "None of this bodes well for Vista, which is now more than two times slower than the most current builds of its older sibling," said Barth"

Meh. I liked XP, but i am always ready to adapt to the new tech as it comes. That quote is fine and all, but what do they mean by 2 times? XP opens office in 8 seconds while vista opens it in 16? That's where i go with the whole: "they're too picky" idea. But then again, its all personal preference.

I agree though, for some programs as old as you want to install, XP is for you. But you might want to look into OpenOffice(you can get it at OpenOffice.org) for a replacement for Word 2002. It also handles excel, word, and powerpoint, plus its free...always a good thing, and compatible with just about any Microsoft document file you want to throw at it.