By Will Smith
When I reviewed Windows XP, way back in October 2001, I declared it the best Windows yet, awarding it a perfect score of 10 and the coveted Kick Ass award. Oh how times have changed!

After four short years, the sparkling luxury sedan of an operating system that was Windows past has been replaced by an unserviceable hulk of an OS that’s one bad app away from a parking spot on cinderblocks behind KFC. Windows is in sad shape, and it needs a lot more than a Service Pack and a few nag screens to fix the problem.

Windows users have lost control of their computers. Whatever you call it, the situation with spyware, viruses, worms, and Trojans is destroying users’ confidence in their computers. When unexpected things happen—and believe me, they do—victims just assume that’s the way things have to be. You shouldn’t have to live with pop-ups, an ever-changing home page, painful slowdowns, or any of the other nasty side-effects of computing today.
This isn’t a problem that affects only grandparents and technophobes. Maximum PC editors have had spyware infestations on their machines. Virus and worm outbreaks plague everyone, whether they cause lost downtime, destroy your data, or just create a deluge of spam hawking mortgages and generic Viagra. Sure, Microsoft is making some sweeping changes in Windows Vista that should help, right?
Not really. The fixes in Vista won’t do anything to help the hundreds of millions of people using Windows XP right now. Service Pack 2’s Firewall and Security Center helped slow the unchecked spread of viruses and worms, but the spyware problem is worse than ever. Why in the hell should Microsoft expect users to pay to upgrade to Windows Vista when Windows XP has caused them nothing but trouble? Why should I shell out my hard-earned dollars to get a fix for the underlying flaws in its OS?

Before I’m going to recommend that anyone spend money on Windows Vista, I want to see fixes to Windows XP. Show me you can make XP work, protect it from evil-doing applications that install 16 other even-worse applications that send my credit card information to Russian hackers. Give me a solution that helps me right now and I’ll think about upgrading to Vista at the end of next year.

I’m still really excited about Vista. I have high hopes that Microsoft will deliver an innovative new operating system that takes full advantage of the resources modern hardware has to offer, and that will protect my machine. But I want to see Windows XP fixed first.
--Will Smith

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