Costco is selling WinXP SP2 home edition for $96. That's a very good price for anyone needing a copy.
I seem to recall that the major difference between the home edition and the PRO edition of XP is that the home edition does not make use of a second processor. Is this true? And if so, if it is running under virtualization, then this is a mute point, right? Because it is PW that is taking advantage of the dual processors, XP is just riding above that level, so inessense the home edition would have the advantages of the dual processors in the Mac. True??
I also believe XP Home doesn't have support for domains. This may or may not matter in your environment.
Home also doesn't support incoming Remote Desktop connections. The user management MMC plugin (lusrmgr.msc) doesn't work either so you have to use the somewhat limited control panel interface which can be a real hassle sometimes.
The Home variant will not use multiple processors on systems that have them, but it will use both cores of a dual-core processor. Randall Schulz
For those looking for a cheap copy of WinXP, your best bet is to find a small computer shop (you know, one of those places that builds their own in the back). Those places will usually sell you an OEM version of Windows XP. For example, a full version of WinXP home is $99, and Professional is $157. There is *no* difference between OEM version and the retail version of Windows! OEM is intended to be sold with new systems, so it includes the CD, serial number, and certificate of authenticity (but no box, manual, or technical support). If you don't have one of these shops near you, here's the one right around the corner from my house. They've been around for a long time, they've been reputable, and they have an Online store (so you can mailorder): http://www.krex.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=219 edit: I figure this is justified because we are, afterall, "building" a new system within our computers... ;-)
Well, no. It's not whether you end up building a new system with the OS, but whether the OS was sold WITH a new system. Hence, if the OEM copy was bought without an accompanying system it's considered illegal.
