Microsoft Extends Windows XP Downgrade to 2020

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I love Windows 7, I think it is fantastic and happily replaced my main machine with it over XP I was using before.
But.
Problem is XP was still pretty solid. Ignoring the issues of it being less secure and not having as much eye candy most businesses don't need all that stuff. Most businesses have their XP terminals behind a dirty great big industrial server with super-duper firewalls up the kazoo and expensive corporate virus protection. So couple that with the fact that most office based businesses dont need eye-candy or even support for things like Drag & Drop DVD Writing and do nothing more complicated than run MS Office and a call logging program then you have a recipe for never needing to upgrade.
Ever.
There are industrial/manufacturing companies out there with machines that are still running on old DOS programs on green-screen VDUs and dot-matrix printers because that is all they will ever need for the uncomplicated task they do.
This is no differant and until the office-world has a need to move away from XP it will never happen.

All it means is that home users will continue to have vastly superior systems than the piles of junk that they log into when they go into work the next day.
 
[citation][nom]mousemonkey[/nom]It's really going to help in pushing forward the development of DX10/11 gaming, looks like consoles are off the hook for while at least.[/citation]

What do games have to do with PC's being sold to businesses?

As for budgets this doesn't help a whole lot as you are still paying the premium for Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate. It is cheaper for an XP to 7 Upgrade later. Buying XP then an upgrade license would likely cost more than buying 7 and downgrading to XP for a while and upgrading back to 7.
 
[citation][nom]wfrantz[/nom]I work for Ford Motor Company, we still user Windows XP to develope our software.... moving to a new OS is not nearly as easy as it sounds when an entire companies framework revolves around paticular OS details. Thumbs up microsoft.[/citation]
Complete agree, and it requires a TON of money and manpower to switch to a new OS. Some people seem you think you can just buy a volume license of Windows 7, create a machine and then run sysprep, start imaging machines. Not quite that easy.
 
[citation][nom]viometrix[/nom]xp is old hat, and needs to die. companies that depend on xp because their proprietary software runs on it are not companies i want to do business with. they had to have the software rewritten to work on xp 10 yrs ago, time to evolve and do it again.i have xp mode installed just so my son and i can pretend we got stuck in the past, too bad many people really are.[/citation]
It's a shame you have no idea what you're talking about. As a business owner that has legacy software and databases that only run on XP, transferring them to Win7 now would be nearly impossible. Just 6 years ago we upgraded for a DOS based database system, for the same reason.
 
HOw can they extend windows XP support until 2020? According to the "Windows XP" wiki article, ;; "On April 8, 2014, all Windows XP support, including security updates and security-related hotfixes, will be terminated"

So this must be wrong and Microsoft will now keep on releasing Critical updates for XP until 2020? I hope so!
 
[citation][nom]viometrix[/nom]xp is old hat, and needs to die. companies that depend on xp because their proprietary software runs on it are not companies i want to do business with. they had to have the software rewritten to work on xp 10 yrs ago, time to evolve and do it again.i have xp mode installed just so my son and i can pretend we got stuck in the past, too bad many people really are.[/citation]
Yeah I agree with other posters; you really have no idea what you're speaking about. I would venture to say that most small to medium businesses (the ones I deal with) will stick with XP for a multitude of reasons, the main being cost. In order to run a successful, profitable business you have to keep costs down.

On the other hand, take a lawfirm I do IT work for with about 70 users. They spend over $100,000 a year in IT expenses on support, licensing, hardware, etc. Every single PC is less than 3 years old and under warranty. All servers are under warranty and all other important hardware and software have support contracts. It's wonderful to be their IT provider because they spend money.

They are still using XP on the workstations though. The reason is mainly tied up in their document management system not officially supporting Windows 7 yet.

Somehow, even though they are "living in the past" as you say, they are still the premiere law firm in my city in their particular field of law.

The thing is, I love Windows 7 and have been using it since the beta was released. It's officially been out for less than a year though. You have to give businesses time to plan out the transition because Vista was not a particularly viable upgrade path for most of them.

If you don't want to do business with companies that are still using XP, you're going to have some extremely limited options...
 
[citation][nom]maydaynomore[/nom]For a total of 9 people. Wow... that must be hard... Try doing that for the company I work for. 56,000 employees.. There is no real incentive for companies to move over to win 7. for a comp like the one I work for it would be a HUGE cost to move to win 7. Millions upon millions of dollars. Now you tell me why they should move.[/citation]
Glad to see someone else out there gets it. Most computers running XP are still doing so because the jump to Vista would have meant a lot of computers would have had to have been retired, even more would have needed money dumped into them to upgrade to minimum requirements. Since most of the same computers continue to run today, the same philosophy applies to Windows 7 (which requirements are identical).

The old saying applies here, if it isn't broken and is working fine, then don't change it. Sticking with XP can help out in big ways financially. Cash-strapped companies in this tight economy are even more inclined to stick with the Venerable XP for some time to come until a full rebound is realized. No matter how great 7 is, XP still has a place and purpose!
 
Honestly, if you don't want to, I see no reason to go past XP.
If Microsoft made it easier to put DX10/11 (without hacks) on XP, and they put some real effort in XP 64bit for a short while (while trying to keep as much legacy as possible, or just do more to get around the RAM barrier), then it's just fine for another decade.

Simple, efficient, stable, solid. It works.
I only went to Windows 7 x64 because I like a couple features (such as being a hell of a lot prettier on the eyes).
 
DAMN. What the hell is wrong with these luddites?

In 10 years, most XP software simply won't be interoperable with new hardware peripherals. XP can't support the vast majority of new features on new hardware.

I can just see some crappy small business owner coming into my store and complaining that he needs some new feature, but its not compatible with Windows XP. Wasn't this what XP Mode was for? Push virtualization not broken old code.
 
[citation][nom]scryer_360[/nom]DAMN. What the hell is wrong with these luddites?In 10 years, most XP software simply won't be interoperable with new hardware peripherals. XP can't support the vast majority of new features on new hardware.I can just see some crappy small business owner coming into my store and complaining that he needs some new feature, but its not compatible with Windows XP. Wasn't this what XP Mode was for? Push virtualization not broken old code.[/citation]

Your company is run by morons. XP has been exploited and hacked to the ends. IT lacks many of the base security features of modern Operating Systems. Taking over an XP system is nothing short of easy for even a modest script-kiddie.

And really, you are running ATMs on that crap? A simple Linux kernel would make operating your enterprise much more efficient and secure for such devices that do not require complex user interfaces. It would also save money on liscensing.

Also, all your machines have been running since '02? Most computer hard drives last a max of 5 years, and after that motherboards, memory, and power supplies become more and more likely to fail. Heavy-use machines inside of ones business even more so.

And what happens when you need new software? Or new peripherals? The cost of complacency can easily replace the cost of upgrading. You'll be sinking hundreds into each individual unit in no time, you could have kept yourself from hitting obsolescence costs. The shareholders will be displeased.
 
For the guy saying companies did it with 3.1/95/98/NT/2000/XP... you have to think of a few things:

In the 3.1 days, not everyone had a computer on their desk, and there were a lot fewer digital resources in use. Making the jump to 95/98/NT easier. 95-XP were 32 bit (ok 9x was hybrid, but I digress) making it not as difficult, and keeping compatibility issues to a minimum .

Windows Vista and 7 are built mostly from the ground up with a whole new architecture, and really needs to be migrated to a 64bit platform to be worthwhile IMHO. That requires upgrading the entire infrastructure to 64bit else you run into other problems down the road in a hybrid model.

Hell take a look at the Microsoft KB article for installing 32bit printer drivers on a 64bit server. It is a pain in the ass, and does not always work. Not to mention all the proprietary home-built software that is used.

Just an FYI, it took us 2 years of planning and effort to switch from a Novell/98-2k environment to an AD/XP environment. It cost a TON of money and took a lot of man hours. Sure you could push stuff down through the network, but not every company/gov't agency/school has the WAN to handle that kind of load. Even using SCCM today will reuqire a lot of time and manpower and triage after a deploy.

And even after you do get all the technical issues ironed out, you still have to deal with bureaucracy and politics, which compounds the entire issue outright.
 
[citation][nom]anamaniac[/nom]Honestly, if you don't want to, I see no reason to go past XP.If Microsoft made it easier to put DX10/11 (without hacks) on XP, and they put some real effort in XP 64bit for a short while (while trying to keep as much legacy as possible, or just do more to get around the RAM barrier), then it's just fine for another decade.Simple, efficient, stable, solid. It works.I only went to Windows 7 x64 because I like a couple features (such as being a hell of a lot prettier on the eyes).[/citation]
Efficient? Stable? HAHAHAH!

I work in computer repair, and to this day I still see more BSOD and kernel crashes on XP machines than Vista or 7. XP is still the most easy to hack OS of all time, and future compatibility is questionable at best.

And oh god, driver issues. At least 7 includes a driver recovery utility that runs automatically. XP can see a driver die and you may spend hours scouring the web, trying to find a replacement. And if the driver was a network driver, you will probably need to use another machine to find it.
 
XP fine for companies who will probably be running machines with 512MB's of RAM and only need it to run some software they use for email and other office type things.

I see this more as MS wanting to continue selling to companies who really don't need 7.

I recommend 7 to home users wanting a new machine and in specific the 64 bit flavor.

I would recommend 7 to companies too but they have a different set of problems then a home user and usually for them its profitable to be a little behind the curve tech wise. (There are probably still companies using Win9X for some stuff)
 
[citation][nom]Steven Bancroft[/nom]Wow, few days late here Toms?[/citation]
Why do some people rag on Tom's (or any site) for having late news, but say nothing else about the news itself? Really? Is that all you can contribute? And the kicker -- they are generally first or second in line to make the comments. It's like they are waiting to pounce the second a new news story is posted. Why? So they can proclaim some kind of in-the-know superiority? What exactly do those people do that makes thier knowledge the litmus test we should all follow? Do they think thier posts about Tom's (or any site) will kick them in thier (supposed) complacency? If they spend all thier time waiting to pounce, does that mean they work for a competitive site, or that they have no lives beyond this? There is an old saying -- If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. If you come across old news, ignore it and go somewhere else. This is the first I've heard of it. Thanks for the heads up Tom's!

Of course ...if I were to follow my own advice, I should not have said anything. I guess I'm a hypocrite. 😛
 


A.) Because that's where a lot of gaming takes place. [:mousemonkey] :lol:
B.) Because a lot of people buy machines from work to use at home or that's where they end up anyway after a couple of years.
 
sounds good to me. people pay me to remove spyware from their computers.

windows 7 is better than xp but a lot of people still aren't very bright, I can't change that.
 
I have two drives, one with win7 64-bit and the other with xp 32-bit. I still feel like xp is faster than win7. Also, my win7 can't recognize my network printer and can't find a driver for it anywhere. XP recognizes it fine. Also, win7 won't let me use my mic even though it sees it unlike XP which uses it fine. All my games I run max settings and as long as I get constant 60fps v-sync, idc which os i have. Preferably, I like XP for everything I do, which is intense gaming and school stuff, and it runs every game max settings at 60fps v-sync at the very least, plus i get the functionality of my mic and network printer. So, bring on more XP ^^
 
[citation][nom]scryer_360[/nom]Efficient? Stable? HAHAHAH!I work in computer repair, and to this day I still see more BSOD and kernel crashes on XP machines than Vista or 7. XP is still the most easy to hack OS of all time, and future compatibility is questionable at best. And oh god, driver issues. At least 7 includes a driver recovery utility that runs automatically. XP can see a driver die and you may spend hours scouring the web, trying to find a replacement. And if the driver was a network driver, you will probably need to use another machine to find it.[/citation]

that's because you work on faulty hardware. you should be recommending people to buy a new PC instead of fixing old junk. I still work on old PC but if XP was causing a lot of stability issues, it is ALWAYS the hardware fault unless it is some virus/malware that was poorly coded as most are. I have a system right next to me that was BSOD a lot because it had faulty RAM in it. That is not the OS fault at all. I ran memtest on the RAM that was in it and it kept getting HALT errors or the software just blatantly froze. Now it has a different pair of sticks in it and it passed 24 hour burn in test.

This is just one example of how faulty hardware is usually the culprit.
 
It just goes to show that once the kinks got worked out, XP was a kick-ass OS. I hope Win7 follows that same track (so far, so good on the kinks compared to crapVista).
 
I've got a business customer still running an MS DOS business application under Windows 98. The program will not work in Windows XP at all due to the parallel port dongle required to run it. It's getting more and more difficult to get computers that will still run Win98. Many don't even have LPT ports any more.

Their 10 year old computers are chugging away, being repaired only through spare parts I've got in my basement. Once those run out, they will need a new system.

It's possible something similar can happen to Windows XP before 2020. You'd be hard pressed to find a motherboard or other hardware that still supports it.

 
i just made the move on all the machines i have: home pc (athlon x2 4200+), a laptop and the work pc. the hardest was with the work being on a domain and having all the tools and stuff. all are x64. quite happy with them, win 7 looks ok, works ok. had some issues with a webcam and the mic but other than that i'm quite happy.
guys at work are sort of like 50% on xp and 50% on 7. seems that our testers are most reluctant to get to 7. the developers mostly moved on but some are happy with xp. it's no problem as we don't use legacy stuff and the pcs are quite new.
 
[citation][nom]eugenester[/nom]Hooray for XP PRO SP3!!! Now if only Win7 64 drivers become more commonplace....[/citation]
I have 4 comps running 7 and 2 laptops, some 2-3 years old and have no problem finding x64 drivers for every part of it. Long as the hardware is not 10 years old and the company actually supports their hardware there should be x64 drivers for it.
 
Yes pretty any one who make a blanket comment about how all company should just upgrade to window 7 from Xp has probably never worked for a enterprise size company that main function of business is not IT related. I work for one and we have over 200k+ PC's and each area can run different software due to different law and requirements per state. however all of our hardware has been windows 7 ready for the last year as we least PC's instead of purchasing but the main thing holding us back is software (mostly i.e. 6 based application).
 
[citation][nom]jj463rd[/nom]So XP will still have critical updates till 2020 rather than 2014?[/citation]

No.

Don't confuse downgrade rights with support. XP support is OVER NOW unless you have paid substantially for an extended support agreement.
 
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