Microsoft Issues Another Warning of XP's Demise

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all you windows 8 haters, you're only supporting XP because you dislike win8 and the direction M$ is going... fine, I can understand that. but tell me, what's wrong with getting the XP users to move to Win7? seriously... do people know how much of a pain it is to maintain websites for like a hundred different versions of browsers etc due to people not updating their browser/OS? this goes for the software industry as well.
 
Personally as soon as the new OS goes RTM all support for the OS should end then. Windows XP support should have ended as soon as Vista went RTM no updates no security support nothing. Windows XP was obsolete before Vista even came out and it is even more so now. As for Windows 8 it works just fine with a keyboard and mouse as it does with touch screens.
 

ipwn3r456

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I doubt if Microsoft will really end support for Windows XP. I think it will support atleast another 9 months after 4/8/14 when Windows 7 ends it's mainstream support on 1/13/15. They might even have to move the end support date to all the way when Vista is dead too due to it's popularity. I think Windows Vista should trade end support dates with Windows XP, no one really uses Vista anymore, only 4.75% usage, comparing to Windows XP's 38.31% usage.
 

laststop311

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Windows 7 does everything XP does and does it better. No reason not to move onto 7. Now getting people to leave 7 in the future will be the real challenge. Almost unanimously us desktop users HATE metro.
 

signothorn

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Most large retail chains who still use this on their workstations simply have ghosted XP images that allow access to the server through various workstations that have a number and crudentials and access to server progs and data is broken down by workstation umber. If a computer gets a virus, or starts running really slow, they simply re-image the workstation. Unless it's a worm, or something injected locally, my understanding is those workstations are secure. Why would such an outlet upgrade to W7?
 

digiex

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I can cram my XP installation in an 10gig partition, in Windows 7 50gig is not enough.
Yeah, hard disk comes cheap this days but defraging a 10gig partition is way faster in my aging rig.
 

bnot

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in Windows 7, defragging has becoming less than an issue since they do it automatically.
Unless your rig run on a 60 GB HDD, i don't see any immediate issue.
 

fritters

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I gained sympathy for these windows xp users after windows 8 launched and I found myself reformatting and going backwards to 7.
I suppose the xp guys feel the same way. Microsoft should charge for updates to monetize old software that we won't part with.
 

g00fysmiley

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these are probably the same people who think global warming is a conspiracy.... its sad when people insist on keeping to the past. upgrading to windows 7 from xp is not hard, backup file son another hdd or external hdd in case of failure then install the upgrade... if i end up getting info leaked and it can be traced to a buisness that was still using xp after april 2014 if they are nto out of buisness yet i'll see em in civil court about the damages
 
Problem: People are stupid and irresponsible and it makes them lazy and fearful of change.
Solution: Document your efforts to the contrary so that, when it DOES crash and burn, the responsible person gets canned and perhaps YOU can take their place to implement your solution(s).
 

Aegean BM

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I run a software business. Customers actually believe the marketing mantra that the latest version is the "latest and greatest". Not always so, especially with stability and security. I can't tell you the number of customers who upgraded everything to have the latest and greatest--against my advice--and ran into problems. Unless there is some new feature you are dying for, don't upgrade. Listen to the familiar saw: if it ain't broken, don't fix it!

Something individual consumers don't understand is how painful and expensive upgrades are for a large business. The software license upgrade is a minuscule part of the expense. Even if the new licenses were free, it would be too expensive. That's why large businesses usually only get new software on new machines.

Plus the store chain owner in the article might be right about Microsoft extending support. They've done it before. If it's true that 38% of Windows machines are XP, it'll be hard not to. Businesses make money by supplying their customer needs. Who has more power, Microsoft or their customers?
 

Aegean BM

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The business runs 25,000 Point of Sale (POS) terminals on XP. If they upgrade to 8, the barcode scanner receipt printer drivers fail, because no one will write a Windows 8 driver to a scanner and printer that's not sold anymore. Unlike a single upgrade for you, the upgrade for the business is incredibly hard and expensive.

Plus, when they done, are they more secure? Why would anyone think Windows 8 is more secure? It has a gazillion new lines of code that have never been tested in the real world. XP has been pounded on for 10 years. If your info is stolen from Windows 8, will you feel any better?
 

agentbb007

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No more windows updates, oh what will the small businesses do? Most of the small businesses probably don't even install the updates and won't even notice a difference when Microsoft stops supporting XP.
I bet Microsoft is wishing they had an SimCity type model so they could shut off the OS completely and force people to upgrade.
 
Companies are slow to upgrade because of the high cost. Many use special software geared toward their niche and the cost can be 10s of thousands of dollars to upgrade one computer let alone 100s through out the company. Plus many are tied to very expensive peripherals like $10K plots whose software only runs on the older O/Ss. Companies I know of that have taken the plunge in Windows 8 have had to have them changed to Windows 7. Windows 8 has too many issue for companies to consider right now. Little to no VPN support many versions of popular programs are not supported, unless they buy the new Windows 8 versions. Many hardware device drivers are still not ready. Moving to such a different version of Windows will slow down office productivity while the staff grapples to become familiar with the new O/S. Companies may have to pay for a trainer or pay overtime to try to bring staff up to speed on the Windows 8. I don't expect it to ever become as popular as Vista let alone XP or 7. Windows 8 is simply not a viable choice for business at this time.
 
I have customers that still support business using Windows 95 and Windows 98SE and they are still chugging along. Many will not change until they have to and they will move to Windows 7 or Linux. Still no demand for Windows 8, MS has to do more educational adverting as to why we need Windows 8, not musicals.
 
I have customers that still support business using Windows 95 and Windows 98SE and they are still chugging along. Many will not change until they have to and they will move to Windows 7 or Linux. Still no demand for Windows 8, MS has to do more educational adverting as to why we need Windows 8, not musicals.
 

beachbod

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Unti'll Microsoft can get another version of windows to boot within 10 seconds without an SSD I will stick with Windows XP.
I use XP for speed.
I use Chrome for speed.
I use Google for speed.
I dont need all the other garbage.
 

zivgt2

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Yes Windows 7 is better than Windows XP, no one would choose to install XP on a new computer.
But issue as many warning as you want, XP is solid enough for small businesses, and those old computers will be replaced after all.
I think the points is don't try to hurt your reputation by forcing people upgrade, when there are still so many people depend on XP, stop supporting it just annoy your costumer, the dead line should be made by them.
 
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