As of October 1, 2002, Windows XP is the standard operating system supported by the Lab's Information Technologies and Services Division. According to the Lab's Desktop Support team, the XP operating system is more stable and less prone to crashing than Windows 98, the Lab's previous PC standard operating system.

All new PCs ordered through the Lab's Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) with Micron will be delivered with Windows XP, unless otherwise specified. Primarily, these exceptions will be based on a user's need to run legacy software. The Lab's standard XP load includes the XP operating system (with Service Pack 1), Office XP, Norton Antivirus 2000, Winzip 9.1, F-Secure's SSH version 5.2, Jinitiator (the Java runtime environment required for Weblets), Internet Explorer 6 (also with Service pack 1), and Netscape 4.75 to support the Lab's email client.

Concern over various problems with the Windows 2000 OS, which was released between Windows 98 and XP, kept the Lab from implementing it as a standard. But those problems have now been resolved, and the fixes applied to XP, too. A number of the fixes were released as part of Microsoft's Service Pack 1.

One of the speedbumps slowing the adoption of XP as a standard was concern that it was not certified compliant with the Lab's central business applications powered by PeopleSoft. However, extensive testing has found no major problems. With the upgrade of the PeopleSoft HR application to a Web-based version this month, XP users should not have any problems. Testing is also being done with the financial systems and the Maximo application, with no real problems emerging.

The May issue of Computing News reported that the Micron BOA was going to exclusively offer XP, even though users might need an older version of Windows for legacy applications (consistent with Microsoft policy). The goal was to ensure recent acquisitions of Micron computers would have a legal XP license for users with an interest in upgrading at some point in the future. The Micron BOA was changed on June 1, 2002, and since then, more than 260 computers have been bought by the Lab with XP licenses. Prior to June, users were buying a mix of XP, Win98 and Windows 2000.

"The first Micron with XP came in during the latter part of November 2001," said Desktop Support Manager Charlie Verboom. "ITSD and many early adopters at the Lab have been pleased with the stability of the system and the functional and speed improvements inherent in this new operating system."