well i dont have too much experience in maya on different plattforms but i´d go for 2k too

because its not made for the mainstream market
so its way easier to operate as a computer professional

winxp just sux for the simplest administrative things like shared stuff with more pcs.
its just sooo much more work to get winxp do what you want.

1000000 little gadjets and all that stuff
i mean i know what permissons are (files and shared folders) i dont need 10 popups to tell me how dangerous it is to play with that if you don´t know what you are doing.

nevertheless
winxp is sometimes faster and has this memory optimizer.
i may do a benchmark because i have to reinstall everything anyway so

my system
2xmp2800
1024mb reg ecc
msi k7d master l
geforce fx 500
2x 5400 hdds (non raid)

maybe then i´ll know if all the troubles with the xp interface is worth the fustration and anger