The issue is discussed here:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5034679.html
Although the original article was removed some time ago (my guess -
legal reasons...) - the comments are quite revealing and describe
what you are describing.
I was incorrect about what was included in 2000. 2000/XP is in the
NT line of products - and I thought 'Kodak Imaging for Windows and
Imaging Preview' was not included in 2000 for that reason. (I
thought it was a 9x product line add-on only.)
Also - you say read about it in the 'KB' - but give no article
number in any response in this thread.
I also suggested Picasa. While I use Irfanview and install it on
many machines frequently - I am leaning more and more towards
Picasa. I realized it would not solve your 'old annotations' issue
- but the only thing I think might do that is to find a
hack/possibly not legitimate way of getting 'Kodak Imaging for
Windows and Imaging Preview' installed onto Windows XP or actually
purchaing a legitimate license from the link I gave above for the
alliancegroup.
Quote from the comments in the page linked from this particular
answer: " Imaging for Windows is a product of eiStream Inc.
Their Legal Department states:
"XP users are not licensed to use Imaging for Windows. The product
is not a part of the XP operating system as Microsoft is no longer
licensed to distribute it. XP users who wish to have the Imaging
for Windows functionality may purchase the licences."
"Further, it is in fact a copyright violation to take Imaging for
Windows from a prior O/S and 'drop' it into XP; this activity is
also a violation of both eiStream's and Microsoft's licenses to end
users."
Imaging for Windows is available from
www.alliancegroup.co.uk/imaging-for-windows.html"