Benoit is correct about ME, HuBBs, though you aren't entirely off the ball, yourself. ME is basically Windows 98SE's design with a few half-baked bells and whistles that we see more thoroughly thought-out in Windows XP. Quite frankly, ME was a minor release that even Microsoft didn't seem to make a big deal out of. I'm thinking that its release was more or less just a farewell to the MS-DOS environment, in conjunction with a popularly expected release of another new version of Windows. Some of the features included may've been included just to test the waters to see how consumers react to them. Overall though, as Benoit said, it was just Windows 98SE with a few added features to pretty it up.<p>On Windows XP, however, yes, Windows XP does send information about your computer to Microsoft. There are two examples of this. First, Product Activation requires your computer to send Microsoft an identification code that is generated based on your Display adapter, SCSI adapter, IDE adapter, Network adapter media access control address, RAM amount range, Processor type, Processor serial number, Hard disk device, Hard disk volume serial number, and CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive.<p>Using this information, Windows XP creates a hash; that is, it takes this information, and runs it through an algorythm that generates a series of numbers. This hash is sent to Microsoft and is then associated with your CD key on Microsoft's servers. This is probably what your Computer Science teacher was refering to, and I suspect that despite his background in computers, he didn't entirely understand how this process works, and therefore believed the hype about Windows XP sending personal information to Microsoft. Keep in mind that a hash doesn't necessarily involve encryption; a hash is only a means of identification because the same combination of information will always result in the same hash.<p>This method is used for storing passwords on servers, because a hash cannot be reverse-engineered. Upon receiving a password, a server will generate a hash from it, and compare it to the stored hash, to see if it is correct.<p>The second instance of Windows XP sending information to Microsoft from your computer is when a program has a crash. In these cases, Windows will save the memory state from the crash, and pending the user's permission, will send the memory state to Microsoft along with your hardware information. In these cases, first of all it doesn't send ANYTHING unless you permit it to, and second, the information is an anonymous submission used for the express purpose of debugging the Windows XP software for future automatic updates. The dialog even gives you an opportunity to review precisely what information is being sent.<p>And finally Benoit, I
do dare to question your Computer Science teacher, a person who has been busy with computers since the 70's, because Windows OS development is not his field of expertise. Unless he has purchased the source code from Microsoft and gone through it to specifically identify the string of code that sends Microsoft any personal information that you've stored on your computer, or personally found a way to decrypt the Product Activation hash (which even people at Microsoft are unable to do; seeing that it's possible for two different hardware combinations to produce the same hash), then he's only going by the rumor that was started by the same kind of paranoid fool that started the hype about the Y2k bug.<p>Furthermore, Prince Noah, Windows 2000 was never intended for home use. It's a professional platform developed along the NT line of Windows Operating Systems, which have always used a totally separate design concept from the normal Windows line. Basically, you were playing games on an operating system designed to organize and operate network applications. The two variations of it are optimized for Workstations and Servers.<p>And HuBBs... If that's the stupidest thing you've ever read, then you need to
this absurd argument insisting that we're gradually coming to the 1984 scenario.