I had been thinking of installing a new OS on one of my W2K boxes that had become inactive after being hit by slammer a couple of months ago. SO when the latest issue of Dr. Dobbs' Journal brough a "Windows 2003 Evaluation CD", I thought this was an ideal opportunity to learn about a new OS and get my box back.
However, I was disappointed by "Windows 2003 Evaluation CD" -- first, I couldn't boot my machine from the CD. Apparently the eval. CD is not bootable. After booting W2K (after unplugging the network connection) and 3-4 reboots, I was able to install Windows 2003. However, this was the second OS on the same box. I couldn't find a way to overwrite or delete the exsting installation ....
The other thing that annoyed me was W2003 wanted me to register the OS within next 14 days. I have avoided creating a MS-Passport account so far and was in no mood to oblige now for an experience that was less than pleasing.
And so, today morning I bought Red Had Linux 8, along with 3 installation CDs and installed RedHat Linux 8 on my box. Installation was smooth and much faster. No need for multiple reboots!!