Thanks, soulhuntre, I agree that there are many who feel the same way, because it all looks so good on paper. I also agree that XP is probably the best, most stable operating system that MS has RELEASED. Too bad we will never know what they might have produced had there been any healthy competition. All I can tell you is that as a former developer for Microsoft (back in the early days of DOS and the original Windows), I can clearly remember the mandates which came down to us programmers to "develop and embed code that is hostile to competitive applications" (specifically Lotus and Netscape - both of whom are now virtually out-of-the-game)." Furthermore, I also remember that some programmers were fired for being "too good" at finding stable solutions to known problems because MS wanted to "reserve" those fixes for a later commercial release rather than offer them as free patches to the current release. That was many years ago, and as I look back, I see that MS achieved ALL the objectives that they set, and effectively eliminated competition (not by offering a better product - but by reducing the effectiveness of competitive products in their operating environment). That is my first-hand experience. I was just a kid at the time, and thought MS was being very clever in doing these things. I actually helped. Today, when I see what we have available, and think what we MIGHT have had, I am ashamed to have been part of it. I just don't think that an operating system should be used as a tool to restrict competition at the APPLICATION level. We all suffer the result; whether you admit it or not is irrelevant, as we will never know what might have been. Having once been on the "inside" I had a peek at what might have been, and can only tell you that it bears no resemblance to what we actually have. One of the key "features" of XP is its video handling ability. The price we will pay, however is incompatibility with several existing (and superior) codec/technologies. If you want to edit videos on XP you will do it their way or not at all. Once competition is eliminated, whatever reamins is OF COURSE, the "Best thing available". It just surprises me that so few people see that.