XP Home Edition for Simple, Simple applications

F

Flyer79

Bit poster
I am about to be a Parallels Desktop 4.0 owner and have to make the seemingly simple decision about what Windows OS to buy: XP Home E, XP Pro or Vista. I need some sage advise from the Parallels Team or the wise forum posters. I have but a few and I think simple applications for Windows so I'm believing that the simplest guest OS is the right choice, but I know you will set me straight. My applications are 1) Jeppesen Garmin 430 GPS data updater (a software that facilitates the online downloading of aviation GPS data into a dedicated USB data card), 2) Garmin Nuvi map database updater (again software similar to #1 above but for the Nuvi GPS) and 3) Internet Explorer 6.0 (to access my company's website - I'm retired and have had to return the company provided Dell laptop). I really have no other apps and am not seeking to use the Windows environment beyond what I have identified above.

So the questions for the group are: Should XP Home Edition suffice? Will it function with Parallels? Are there issues with XP Home Edition and Parallels 4.0 for Mac?

I have a MacBook with 2.2 GHz IntelCore 2 Duo, 2GB memory, 230 GB hard drive, DVD/CD drive.

Thanks in advance for you response and if I need to move this question to another forum then please let me know.

Bill
 
XP Home Edition should be fine the difference between the two editions are related to disabled features in the Home edition but none of those relate to 3rd party software.

The differences are the following (quoted from the wikipedia):

"Windows XP Professional offers a number of features unavailable in the Home Edition, including:

The ability to become part of a Windows Server domain, a group of computers that are remotely managed by one or more central servers.

A sophisticated access control scheme that allows specific permissions on files to be granted to specific users under normal circumstances. However, users can use tools other than Windows Explorer (like cacls or File Manager), or restart to Safe Mode to modify access control lists.

Remote Desktop server, which allows a PC to be operated by another Windows XP user over a local area network or the Internet.

Offline Files and Folders, which allow the PC to automatically store a copy of files from another networked computer and work with them while disconnected from the network.

Encrypting File System, which encrypts files stored on the computer's hard drive so they cannot be read by another user, even with physical access to the storage medium.

Centralized administration features, including Group Policies, Automatic Software Installation and Maintenance,

Roaming User Profiles, and Remote Installation Service (RIS).

Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft's HTTP and FTP Server.

Support for two physical central processing units (CPU). (Because the number of CPU cores and Hyper-threading capabilities on modern CPUs are considered to be part of a single physical processor, multicore CPUs are supported using XP Home Edition.)[3][4]

Windows Management Instrumentation Console (WMIC): WMIC is a command-line tool designed to ease WMI information retrieval about a system by using simple keywords (aliases)."

Parallels is completely agnostic to using either Home or Pro.
 
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