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Warhaven · Aug 17, 2006, 03:33 AM

Have any of you heard of this company, ankhsoft?

I was thinking of updating my Win2K system to WinXP Pro, so I did a quick Froogle search, hoping to find an inexpensive OEM copy. Came across this site. I don't mind downloading the ISO and burning it myself, I have a 5 mb line. I'm just wary because of the price.

Ideas? Thoughts?

phantomdragonz · 03:59 AM

WOW... quite a nice site for a piracy company...

good luck with the windows advantage thing not kicking your butt...

awesome spelling...

Zach

Warhaven · Aug 17, 2006, 05:06 AM

Yeah, I haven't purchased anything yet. Don't think I will.

kupan787 · Aug 17, 2006, 05:27 AM

Ya, I saw this nice gem:

Important: By pressing this button you agree to receive the software designated for home use only without any certificate or a license. You will not be able to register this software with the manufacturer.

Mastrap · Aug 17, 2006, 07:14 AM

I think http://newegg.com sells XP Home for just over a hundred bucks. Legitimately.

monkeybrain · Aug 17, 2006, 08:08 AM

I think windows 2000 is better than XP. Why do you want to upgrade? Would it really be worth it?

subego · Aug 17, 2006, 08:14 AM

If you get screwed you can always call Boris in Moscow.

Whois lookup for ankhsoft.com.

Whois Server Version 2.0

Registrant:
Boris Tsirlin [email protected] +7.2122466144
starNt
Leninsky prsp-t 145/5 apt 59
Moscow,Moscovia,RUSSIAN FEDERATION 123745

Domain Name:ankhsoft.com
Record last updated at 2005-11-02 17:30:14
Record created on 2005/5/11
Record expired on 2008/5/11

subego · Aug 17, 2006, 08:56 AM

Or should I say Boris Spamalov.

http://www.joewein.net/spam/spam-bl-a.htm

SirCastor · Aug 17, 2006, 11:22 AM

Another one of those companies selling unlicensed software. Y'know I could make a heck of a lot of money if I just didn't have any morals...

Thank goodness I have morals

Eriamjh · Aug 17, 2006, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by monkeybrain

I think windows 2000 is better than XP. Why do you want to upgrade? Would it really be worth it?

Except Boot Camp doesn't support Win2000... which is the only reason to want to buy windows.

Lateralus · Aug 17, 2006, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

Except Boot Camp doesn't support Win2000... which is the only reason to want to buy windows.

That is such crap. I had never bothered to read into Boot Camp but I assumed it would support pretty much any OS from Windows to Linux.

Oh well. At least Apple isn't charging for it... yet.

Spliffdaddy · Aug 17, 2006, 07:49 PM

Windows2000 wasn't better than XP - in any way I can think of.

It's one of those myths that keeps perpetuating itself.

Besides, it's difficult to find Win2000 drivers for new hardware.

mikemako · Aug 17, 2006, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Spliffdaddy

Windows2000 wasn't better than XP - in any way I can think of.

Agreed. Except Windows 2000 runs faster than XP if you are using older hardware. Other than that, WinXP Service Pack 2 has come a long way since Windows 2000. The driver support in XP is much better, the security features are a great improvment, and in my opinion, the overall design of the system is more attractive and user-friendly.

itai195 · Aug 17, 2006, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by Lateralus

That is such crap. I had never bothered to read into Boot Camp but I assumed it would support pretty much any OS from Windows to Linux.

Oh well. At least Apple isn't charging for it... yet.

I assume it has something to do with Apple not wanting to write drivers for every version of Windows in existence when most people will just want to run XP. But there might be a better reason.

Spliffdaddy -- I think some people are just sentimental over Win2k because it was the first reliable version of Windows IMO. That and maybe they don't like the graphical overhaul in XP, but otherwise I agree with you.

Spliffdaddy · Aug 17, 2006, 08:17 PM

Win2000 was a nightmare when it was first released. I had to replace pretty much all the hardware in my computer - because drivers either didn't exist or were poorly developed. I had better luck with 'Release Candidate 2' than I did with the retail version of 2000. Lots of networking bugs and incomplete drivers is what I remember.

I think it was a solid year before you could use Win2000 to play games. Pretty much everyone I knew had to dual-boot Win98 and 2000. Well, everytime I wanted to use my printer I had to save the print job and reboot into Win98.

itai195 · Aug 17, 2006, 08:19 PM

Yeah that's true, but it was the same with the XP launch.

Eriamjh · Aug 17, 2006, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by Lateralus

That is such crap. I had never bothered to read into Boot Camp but I assumed it would support pretty much any OS from Windows to Linux.

Oh well. At least Apple isn't charging for it... yet.

No. It's not crap. As mentioned before, it's all about drivers. Hardware without drivers won't run well under any OS.

ghporter · Aug 18, 2006, 08:18 AM

Boot Camp drivers only support Windows XP with SP2. And since the Intel Mac hardware is different enough to need special drivers, you NEED XP with SP2. Boot Camp does the partitioning of your Mac's drive and provides drivers, that's all. You could theoretically run ANY Windows OS on an Intel Mac if you could get the right drivers for the hardware. But Win2K and earlier OSs don't have drivers for the current generation of hardware, so you're pretty much stuck with a more modern OS.

Win2K has its good points, but it is bloated and slow when compared to XP on modern hardware. And it's not well supported anymore, so there are fewer fixes for the occasionally found security issues in it. I think of it as "better than NT4," but only marginally.