1. Enable Hardware Acceleration in the Advanced tab of the Display Properties.
2. Download and install DirectX 9a. Load "dxdiag" from the command line and enable OpenGL and Direct3D. If you don't do that, you won't be able to play 3D games.
3. Don't forget to create a user account. Add yourself in to the administrator group if you want to use the OS more freely.
4. Disable that nerve-wrecking shutdown Tracker which doesn't let you shutdown or reboot the machine whenever you want (for security reasons that you don't need it on a workstation)
5. Disable Internet Explorer Hardening. God, this one sucks until you get all these options right. With the security measures Microsoft has taken in this version, not even OSNews is not allowed to load on IE. Not even google.com. You will have to modify the preferences of IE and tell it to not be so paranoid about security...
6. Go to your System Properties, Advanced and click the Performance Settings. Tell it to adjust for best appearance. On the same panel, click on the Advanced tab and tell it to adjust best performance for "Programs" instead of the default values (which mostly favor server performance).
7. Enable Audio. By default, Windows Server 2003 has sound disabled. To do so, just go to the audio control panel and check the radio button there. After you do that, go to Advanced tab and enable full acceleration for the audio.
8. Enable the Theme service and tell it to autostart at each reboot, otherwise you won't be able to use themes or the Luna interface (I noticed a slight drop of performance (e.g. when rendering web pages with IE) after switching to the heavier Luna).
You can read how to do all that step by step in this informative article over at NeoWin.
After you do all that, and you made sure you that you have supported hardware and that all the applications you are interested in do work well with this new system, then you are all set to go and make the big move out of XP or 2000. However, there is one more problem: The mighty price.
Well, the price is stupidly steep. I don't have enough good words to say about this server OS, but the problem is that if this is to work as a workstation OS, it should also be made affordable. Through the standard retail channels, the best price you can get is $800 for the Standard Edition with 5 licenses. Then, for the other versions, the price escalates to high grounds that us geeks can't afford. However, there is a "trick" that you might be able to pull through and get the software for $380 if you know the right people at the right places.
So, there is version of Windows Server 2003 which is called Web Edition and it doesn't have all the goodies in it (supports up to 2 GB RAM, 2 CPUs, not all server software is there) as it was created solely for web serving with IIS. However, this version is more than enough for a workstation, and more importantly, it doesn't have the CAL licensing limitations that the other versions of Windows Server 2003 have. The catch? It is not available via retail channels. Only OEMs and Microsoft distributors sell this cheaper version of the OS for specific purposes only. If you can get your hands on it and you have the will and money for it, go ahead and buy it. If not, well, you can always order the free evaluation CD of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, free to use for 180 days (you can download it for free too if you have the bandwidth, it is a single 550 MB ISO image). Update: You can get Win2k3 Enterprise via the subscription pack for only $300 USD, and it comes with a whole lot of apps and other Windows OSes too (possibly that would be your best deal, I guess, to get hold of the OS).
Windows Server 2003 as a Workstation and comparison to Windows XP Pro:
Good points: Faaaaast, stable, much more secure, easy to use.
Bad points: Incompatible with old drivers (can cause bad crashes) and some software, requires a bit of work to transform it from a server OS to a workstation OS, pricey.
Installation: 9/10 (XP Pro: 9)
Hardware Support: 8/10 (XP Pro: 9.5)
Ease of use: 9/10 (XP Pro: 9)
Features: 10/10 (XP Pro: 8.5)
Credibility: 9.5/10 (XP Pro: 8) (stability, bugs, security)
Speed: 10/10 (XP Pro: 9) (UI responsiveness, latency, throughput)
Overall: 9.25 / 10 (XP Pro: 8.83)
Other OSNews reviews for workstation comparison: Mac OS X 10.3 review, SuSE 8.2 review, Red Hat Linux 9 review and preview, Mandrake 9.1 review.
- "Fastest. Modern. OS. Ever."
- "Driver problem, software incompatibility"
- "Transform your Server, Price, Conclusion"
