Why is xp pro better than xp home?

XP Home is designed for home usage, and XP Pro is better suited to the business environment. The main reason is that only XP Pro supports Domain/Active Directory based networking, which is what is used on most large networks. XP Pro also has additional features such as Remote Desktop [which can be done on Home Edition using free software].
Neither is really better especially in the home environment, and as I have both XP Home and Pro [actually Media Centre, which is based on XP Pro] I have not found Home Edition to be missing anything I don't have on Pro.

__________________
Thanks,
Ash
CF Founder
Great Webhosting. Shared starting at $2 per month. VPSes starting at $6 per month.
www.Centicero.com
Want to get in touch? Send me a PM | Do you want to continue receiving free help? Or do you want this site to close? Become a premium member.

Microsoft now says support for XP Home will continue for two more years after Vista ships (until end of 2008). But, get this: support for XP Pro will continue for FIVE more years after that, SEVEN years total. (until end of 2013). This is why XP Pro is better. Sure, I'll upgrade to Vista, but for those people who can't (due to hardware limitations) it's nice to keep your machine safe while you keep using XP until the computer needs to be replaced. A lot of people bought new computers over the holidays and don't want to think about replacing them in the next couple of years. People who don't already have XP Pro on their machines -- because XP Home came installed -- CAN still upgrade to XP Pro, even if they can't upgrade to Vista.

Vista needs lots of RAM (minimum of 512MB) and a separate video card (probably 128MB or 256MB -- Microsoft hasn't said). Many computers sold today have "integrated" video cards and only 256MB RAM. RAM can be added, but some of the scurrilous computer manufactures don't even include AGP or PCI Express slots on the motherbaord for separate video cards (cough, Dell). My sister has a Dell like that. I can add more RAM for her, but not a video card. She's stuck with XP until she throws the computer away. However, I can upgrade her to XP Pro if she decides to keep it for more than 2 more years. I didn't buy the computer for her, her husband did. I just have to try to make it work.

I have a dell and I installed a geforce 6600 on my agp slot. I think my computer is about 2 or 3 years old. I think newer dells have agp and pci-e. I'm getting my computer ready for vista. So I just need some more ram so I can have 2gb. I'm also hopefully getting a new processor over the summer when I take a class on how to build a computer. In the end, I will probably have this computer:

3.4GHz P4
2gb RAM
Geforce 6600 256 VRAM

One thing to remember about Microsoft support is that, just because they say they will discontinue it's support for a particular OS, doesn't necessarily mean that the software is useless. Nor does it mean the PC hardware is out of date or no longer useful. Quite the contrary.

The operating system that you choose should be one that has feature YOU need. If you need the features of Windows 98SE, use it. Just because Microsoft no longer supports it, thats tuff crap for them! It suits YOUR needs, and not theirs.

For example, Microsoft no longer support Windows 2000 Pro. However, I have one machine (of many) that runs Windows 2000 quite well and it takes care of a few applications I need it to run, that will not run smoothly under Windows XP. I could care less if Microsoft supports it or not -- its my machine and it does what I need.

Don't be fooled by Microsoft propaganda claiming you need to buy a new computer simply because they no longer support a certain OS. You buy the operating system that you need for the applications you need to run.

xp pro comes with Microsoft office

Well said

Very well said