XP users: "XP" skin, or "Classic" skin?

I can use either or as that is because each person is different. I personally use the XP skin as it offers greater forms of customization.

I use the regular XP skin with silver instead of blue

Old school Win2K skin.
The default XP skin makes me feel like I'm using a Mattel etch-a-sketch, not a laptop.

Fisher-Price.

I like things simple and utilitarian, thus my refusal so far to upgrade from Win2k.

I imagine when I get XP, it will quickly be set to classic mode.

What about the Media Center theme?:

yeah I was just about to say...theres no option for that. I think it looks a lot better than the plain jane xp blue look, and more interesting than win2k classic

keeping it on the classic since my only remaining windows machine is a P3 thinkpad....so stripping down the eye candy i managed to speed it up quite nicely. personally i am gonna recommend fluxbox (or the blackbox shell for you winderz users to whom this poll is aimed at)

defualt xp for now

(strictly personal opinion)

I think Windows is the ugliest OS ever created.... and "Vista" doesn't look like much of an improvement in the appearance dept. I don't know what's under the hood, but the new "eye candy" is still as stupid (IMO)....

"classic" is just fat, ugly and boring.... "XP" default looks like a three year old kids toy.... It's great of you like giant gaudy gumdrops for an interface.... "Silver" is the only acceptable option --and it's boring, too....

I don't want to get into a shell replacement (BlackBox, whatever).... that's like having a hobby (that I don't need) so I run StyleXP (or the patched "uxtheme.dll" ) and a visual style.... plus "alt desk" for multiple desktops, and aqua dock for an app launcher.... StyleXP can be set to use Zero system resources... aqua doc sucks up some ram.... but if you have some RAM on your machine, it's worth it....

no conflicts with any of the three... It's still "Stock XP" so that someone who doesn't know the computer can sit down and find the "start menu" and get to work, but I only have to see and use the actual XP interface and menu structure if I need to dig for an app I rarely use...... It's not as nice as a well put together *nix window manger, but it's a whole lot nicer to look at than XP...

I'm a designer, and my clients regularly look at my screen, so asthetics are important to me, plus *I* look at my screen at least 12-14 hours a day... and I couldn't stand staring at either classic or stock XP for more than 10 minutes.

The only reason I use XP at all is because of AutoCAD

Same.

While I technically use the XP theme for appearance, in both the start bar and the Control Panel, I can't stand anything but the classic appearance.

I always use the "classic" view.
But I've been tyring the "vista inspirat" pack from this site http://www.crystalxp.net/bricopack/en.htm
It's amazing and simple to install and uninstall.

I am using the vista skin znKor posted above.

strait up classic with no "crap" for me. Especially on my work machine(s) I never could stand the bubble look and don't need visual pleasures to much up what I'm doing or slow it down. Some will say it doesn't slow anything down but I have seen more than one system that makes a world of difference just by setting everything to classic (best performance). That said I have played with some theme progs and what not but they usually don't stick for long.

One thing I can't live without though is multiple virtual desktops and not M$'s VDM that is just a POS, I have something I've been using for a couple years that works!

Your computer will boot up 10-15 seconds faster without the "XP theme"

the xp theme is resource-hog galore....

I'm not so sure about that...I guess it depends on where your definition of "boot up" ends. Using the themes can definately add time on to the desktop loading (some people include this in their definition of "booting"). For me it just makes the OS overall more useable and "snapier".