reghakr, have you ever used a standard USB webcam on Windows XP? I'm starting to doubt you have.
In Windows XP, if you attach a webcam, a large percentage of webcams WILL SHOW UP IN MY COMPUTER and allow you to double click on them and view them in explorer. From there, you can view whatever the webcam is viewing as well as take snapshots. It does work and was an AWESOME feature of XP. They since removed this functionality in Vista/Win7. Why? I have no clue.
There are viewer programs out there, but teh vast majority I have found are garbage.
As for built in cams, I would imagine that they would function the same as a standard cam if the OS id Win XP. On a side note, I have a Microsoft Live webcam that will not show up as a standard cam on Win XP. My HP cam, on the other hand, shows up fine on XP. All cams I have tried on Vista/Win7 do not show up as they did in Win XP, as MS removed that functionality.
You can access the device from the devices and printers page of the control panel, but not the display. USB cameras are much easier to manage, as you can use the USB virtualization to bounce the webcam from the physical system over to a virtual system (Such as XP or Ubuntu), using either VMWare or Virtual Box.
Also, I have a Fresh Install of XP that shows up with 8 drives from the get go. Why?
First Hard Drive - Windows
Second Hard Drive - Other Apps
Third Hard Drive - Page File & Files that are not accessed often
Fourth Hard Drive - Data Storage
Card Reader
Card Reader
Card Reader
Card Reader
Also, After a fresh install of any operating system, I proceed to join it to the domain.
Network Share 1 - Main Server Data Store
Network Share 2 - JB Server Data Connection
Network Share 3 - PT Server Data Connection
Network Share 4 - NAS Box
Network Share 5 - Personal Drive
Wow, after a fresh install, without any modifications to XP what-so-ever, I have 8 drives show up, and after I join the domain, I get another 5! Don't forget the 3 printers that install as well. Aren't GPOs great?
Anyway, sorry I had to sign up to post this. The feature is there. If you insist on me installing a copy of XP and recording my screen both with a screen recorder and my digital camera just to prove there is a webcam viewer, I'll do it just to prove that the thing exists.
GAH!
I'm out!
~GC