So this is the day that Bill Gates, along with many Microsoft fans (and stockholders), has been eagerly awaiting. Today, Oct. 25, Microsoft officially offers copies of its new operating sytem, Windows XP, Home and Professional Editions, at stores around the US.

Mr. Gates and company are hoping that the very news that Microsoft is offering a new operating system will make millions of people rush out to buy a copy - or better yet, buy a whole new XP-ready computer. The events of Sept. 11 may dampen those expectations a bit, but it's no lie to say that many in the technology business hope that the launch of XP will bring new life to an industry that has been trapped in the doldrums for almost a year now.

Those people aren't going to be very happy with this review of XP.

More than anything else, XP reminds me of a tourist trap. You arrive in a foreign city, and a handsome stranger walks up to you and says he will show you around the city. He offers to take you to the very best shops and restau-

rants. But you soon realize that he is taking you only to places that are owned by his relatives or by someone who gives him a kickback.

You know how mad you get when you realize you're being taken for a ride? That's the feeling I got using XP. It's impossible to separate the improved features in XP from the fact that Microsoft is trying to use its operating system to completely take over the desktop (the 'most valuable piece of real estate in the 21st century,' as writer Stephen Johnson has described it).

Microsoft wants to make it as difficult as possible for you to exercise your own choice in what programs you want to use and where you get to go when you're online.

For all of the good things about XP - its increased stability, ease of use and cool new features and look - we're recommending that computer owners wait a while before making the leap into XP.

In fact, this might be a good time to explore some of the alternatives to Windows, like Linux. You'll find our reasoning for this recommendation below.

But first, let's take a look at the best things that Windows XP has to offer.

The No. 1 improvement is the stability of XP as an operating system. Microsoft software has never quite worked the way it should. But XP, which replaces all previous Windows versions, and comes in two versions (Home or Professional), finally seems to get it right.

You need to do a lot of crazy stuff before the system goes down or gives you that annoying blue screen to tell you of a "fatal error."

Programs will still crash, but under XP, they won't bring down the entire system. And instead of the "fatal error" screen, the new message window actually offers you an apology. This is a very important improvement - for instance, I have two or three programs that regularly give me trouble on Windows98. The system's stability means less work lost because of computer crashes. Another nice feature is how fast the system boots up (starts). XP allows you to go from a cold start to having programs to work with much faster than Windows98 - no more long waits as little lines roll across the program's launch window.

Although I didn't get a chance to check this claim out completely, Microsoft says that XP is compatible with 90 percent of the 1,200 most popular software programs available. And if a program doesn't run under XP, you can use the Compatibility Mode to fix many of these problems. Gamers will love XP - the speed at which video games operate is noticeably improved.

Here's another cool feature - Fast User Switching. Five people in my house use the computer - each with different bookmarks and documents. XP makes it easier to share one machine among a lot of people.

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