Microsoft Offering Windows XP Users Money Off to Upgrade

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
I don't see why many of you are hostile to this. Some people wouldn't mind upgrading but don't want to pay the full price and an offer like this would be well received by some. Certainly not for everybody, and people have a variety of perfectly legit reasons to not upgrade, and that's fine for them. I doubt MS is sitting there collectively thinking "ok, THIS is going to be what finally gets everybody on board for Windows 8!" but many of you are acting as if this is the case. Couldn't we just say "this is nice for those who are looking to upgrade but, for everyone else, not so much" and leave it at that?
 

New security bugs are found in Linux, Apache, MySQL, etc. all every year that have roots in 5-15 years old code that nobody noticed until a potential exploit is found to bring old code back to attention. Almost no OS or other major software is ever safe even with zero-day patches because what makes those exploits possible is in there long before the exploit itself is ever known by security researchers and software developers so there is always the possibility of malware writers finding them first.
 
Funny enough there is an article on yahoo that applies here - the 3% of all computer users who don't mind windows 8 don't speak for the rest of us. The argument isn't that XP shouldn't ever get updated, it is that Windows 7 is pretty much the only real option and still overpriced. And the global concensus is that windows 8 sucks, deal with it.http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-thankfully-too-smart-listen-diehard-windows-8-162522723.html
 
Nothing will happen on APril 8th since Microsoft is patching Windows every Tuesday so in essence you OS is never secured. It is all smoke and mirrors Microsoft is trying to pull in order to gain some market share for Windows 8.x which is the flop since day 1. There are good number of people who never liked what Microsoft did with Windows Vista/7 let alone Windows 8. It comes down to the fact that Microsoft lost Windows Market every since Windows 8 is released.
Click to expand...
I'm not really sure anyone who makes that comment really thinks about how silly it is. It's one thing to bail out a few holes as they become apparent in a boat - but what if your boat keeps getting holes and nobody is fixing them? Eventually, you'll sink.That's the difference between 7+ and XP systems.
 


Exactly. This press release that Toms decided to post as news is nothing more than a rehash of the same crap we've been hearing for the past 6 months. Microsoft wants XP users to upgrade, fine we get it. Stuff in the Microsoft stores is pretty much all overpriced by at minimum $100 anyway, and limiting it to models costing $600+ only reinforces the fact that they aren't taking this very seriously in terms of an "upgrade program." This is a publicity stunt to get the XP story another day in the headlines.

The real money for Microsoft is in getting large businesses to upgrade their machines to 8, and buy all of the supporting software that goes along with it. No one is going to use Office 2003 on Windows 8. My guess is for every PC upgraded to Windows 8, Microsoft makes at least $200-300 and that's the point of all this.
 
Microsoft, wrong, wrong, wrong. You're digging the hole (grave maybe) even deeper. First, I believe that you (MS) is giving China a "pass" on moving from XP, right? Still going to support their machines? Second, Bill Gates wealth would not be enough for me to run that Win8/8.1 piece of junk. NT4, XP32, and XP64 have been the best OS's that you made. Perhaps it is time to move to a different desktop OS if the 2001 XP and the 2004 XP64bit is the best that you can do. I've been running XP64 since 2004 on all machines with ZERO PROBLEMS! How about: "tiles" belong in bathroom floors surrounding the "throne," not on computer screens.
 
While reading about other OS's to hopefully move to if this Win8 garbage keeps going on, I learned that a sysadmin can install Windows 2008 Server in "core mode." This means only the very core of the OS and the sysadmin gets a great DOS screen and C: to start from. Each component/module/function must be added by the sysadmin such as the GUI, networking, USB, etc. Why is this install mode not available for all MS OS's??? As in on boot, "press F4 now to install in core mode - advanced users only." Would that be too much to ask? Would it anger the silly little marketing and advertising minions that appear to be running things at MS now? The Metro interface is clearly designed for them who get their degrees from Cracker Jack boxes. Or monkeys.
 
No, Microsoft is NOT offering $100 off anything. (STOP LYING, KEVIN THE SHILL!!!) They are overpricing systems then claiming to offer a discount. Give me $100 off a $220-$280 laptop from Fry's, to bring the cost down to $120-$180 and that would be a discount.
Click to expand...
Kevin Parrish and Tom's Hardware obviously get paid by Microsoft to publish what is basically the same piece at least once a week. I've been an avid reader of Tom's for years, but after all this disgusting fearmongering campaign I simply cannot stand seeing Kevin Parrish's name on any article anymore - it makes me wanna puke. If Tom's doesn't get rid of him, I'm done with this site.
 
Let's not forget the 1.5 million ATM's and numerous kiosks that use XP.As others have said it's not just an OS upgrade it's a hardware upgrade as well. Many don't have the cash to spend. Commercial users have very little motivation if their application runs.Even if drivers were available 7 or 8 would run as slow as... on older HW with all the background crap that runs.My 8 machines have had close to 2 GB of updates so far, the 32 bit a little less. I dread going to 8.1 because it will reset all the settings that took many hours to adjust.
Click to expand...
ATM's don't use the regular XP, they're using an edition for integrated systems that are not supposed to be updated as they're not connected to an open network.
 


Agreed. I've been calling him out on what is some of the worst Journalism I've ever read, if you can even call it that. If it's not blatantly bias or misleading, than it's full of amateurish proofreading errors.
 


That didn't work the last time... When MS was offing the $50 Win8 deal to ANYONE and every one... even if you installed a beta version of 8, that was about the most MS sold and still Win8 failed. That was also a hint that MS KNEW that Win8 was a dog.... when have they EVER sold Windows for under $100?! (Windows 1~3.x are NOT operating systems).

Even when I built my intel I5-3570K when they made that offer, I bought and installed the $140 Win7Pro. If people aren't willing to install Winhate for FREE, they sure won't do it for $50. (PS: Windows 8, so bad - not even the pirates are bothering with it)

Now, if they offer Windows 7....
 


Naaa.... at most $150 off for Win7 Pro... and perhaps a $500 off for Windows 8.1Pro. That may work.

Seriously, in one of our offices - we HAVE to use Windows XP because HP doesn't make a functional driver for a $6000 plotter. Is Microsoft offering to buy us a NEW plotter?!

 
Let's not forget the 1.5 million ATM's and numerous kiosks that use XP.As others have said it's not just an OS upgrade it's a hardware upgrade as well. Many don't have the cash to spend. Commercial users have very little motivation if their application runs.Even if drivers were available 7 or 8 would run as slow as... on older HW with all the background crap that runs.My 8 machines have had close to 2 GB of updates so far, the 32 bit a little less. I dread going to 8.1 because it will reset all the settings that took many hours to adjust.
Click to expand...
Media scare tactics. I work for a financial institution, everyone is upgrading. Not cheap for the major players, but MS warned of this LONG ago. The chip card liability shift is happening soon enough which would force new machines or major upgrades either way. Media loves to scare people and whats scarier than an ATM that is running an obsolete OS??
 


Worst case scenario, I'm fairly sure those would run on Windows Embedded, which is more secure, no?
 
I disabled automatic updates a while ago on my wife's XP system so, no nags at all for her. If worst comes to worst, I'll install Kubuntu on her system instead, but there is no way in hell I am forking out money on a new system or Windows OS when what she has works just fine! I am strongly leaning towards one of the Ubuntu flavours anyhow. it will be a cold day in hell before I put Windows 8.x on any systems. I still use Windows 7 on my own.
 
My dad had this issue with his computer till I showed him Lubuntu. Now he couldn't be happier, especially since his computer should be able to run it just fine for several years.
 
You're right, because having to remove spyware EVERY day due to security holes from an aging OS is so much fun....... *sarcasm*
Click to expand...
Because Microsoft is the only company that can detect spyware on Windows XP... *sarcasm*
 
As for malware on Windows XP... after 12 years... seriously? If Micro$oft couldn't fix all the security holes in 12 years, why in hell would I want to move to a NEW version of their OS?!
 
I've gotten used to Windows 8.1 and actually prefer it over 7 after using it exclusively as my main platform. Going back to 7 after using 8 for a while and you actually don't miss having that start menu. The tiles is like having a bunch of icons all over your desktop which are very organized into groups with lables. This way, your actual desktop is now clear of shortcuts all over the place. When you learn to use it, it's actually a huge improvement in terms of interface design. However, it's a change and people are always afraid of change. There are still a lot of problems with it and it's flaws are being worked out. I feel that when 9 is released, we'll see far less of windows 7 and a more solid base for 9 by learning from the mistakes in 9. They've always done this with just about every OS release I've known. Every other one feels like the beta for it's predecessor.
 
I've seen way too many "leave XP!" articles. Why'd they bother so much if XP users were really only an insignificant miniscule leftover percent of their market share? maybe win7 isn't really as popular as they'd have you believe.and xp users don't love xp, they're just immune to phony DirectX10 hype & using whatever works best for them. "Sure, Windows XP was an awesome platform in its day" um, nope. I upgraded to from win98 to XP in 2008 after completely running out of every classic-rated game that'd work on my Pentium3 & voodoo2, and seeing a reasonable volume of new classics accumulated in the bargain bins.
 
To canadianvice. Good for you, you obviously work for a big box store at the little desk at the back. They dont seem to require you to have much accreditation to work there or you would know about the way business actually works in real life. And yes the average home user should have upgraded years ago.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom