If you need a computer, have internet access and can’t afford a modest upgrade every 6-7 years, it has nothing to do with being “real.”
I think of computers like cars. If you buy a computer and expect it to work forever without ever needing a new one or needing maintenance, then you’re crazy. If you absolutely need a computer to live you better be prepared in case it shits out tomorrow, just like a car.
Just like buses, there are libraries. As much as people say they NEED computers or cars, we don’t. And if you supposedly do so badly, then perhaps some preparation should have been in order.
Also, since business is such a huge portion of the PC sales market I’m pretty sure the majority of that 31% of users still use XP statistic is mostly comprised of businesses dragging their feet, not the small folk.
If you or your company bought computers with XP on them in the last couple years then I would call that woefully shortsighted. It’s not like Microsoft hasn’t ceased support for every previous OS to date; XP is not going to be different.
Of course, your XP machine will not explode the second they cease support. You will simply fall even faster into obsolesence with some more malware wolves at your heels, that’s all. It will still work.
And stop using Internet Explorer 6 for chrissakes!
If a car was like Windows 8, the gearbox would be above the drivers seat, the pedals would be switched around and the ignition would be… well, I’d have to Google the location. But since the changes can be changed around with a few minutes of tinkering, I should quit whining about it, and anyways, VW and BMW have to innovate to stay ahead and who wants to be driving an old Beetle anyways?
ETA: oops just realised this is an minor variation on a joke as least as old as Windows 95. Oh well…
Ah, where would we be without car analogies? I always preferred the plane ones, with that line about Windows being an executive jet that cruises effortlessly to 30,000 feet before exploding without warning.
Some would disagree, but there are folks like me in this thread who think XP was the best version of Windows. Vista, 7 and 8 were marginal improvements at best. In some ways, they were steps backward.
This continual drive to make new versions and fix what isn’t broken is purely for the benefit of MS, not its users. Hey, I realize they’re a business. I’d even pay a REASONABLE fee for legacy support. But the $200 they apparently are asking cannot be construed as a serious effort to help customers. It’s a penalty for sticking with a product that works which they don’t want us to continue using, so they can sell us the newest crap.
Are you sure you haven’t asked this question before?
Windows 8 boots and runs very fast (typically faster than Windows 7 on the same hardware); the file copy dialog is improved; searching works very well; integration with Skydrive and Windows Live (or whatever it’s called now) is good.
I realise the question was addressed to someone else. I would recommend Windows 8, on the strength of the above mentioned improvements (and others), plus longer support life.
I would suggest that the user installs Start8 or similar if he/she becomes homesick for the Start Menu, and I would suggest not feeling obliged to use the Modern UI apps at all, unless he/she wants to.
Here’s a thought. XP users should
a) Uninstall Java.
b) Uninstall Outlook or any other email client
c) Disable Javascript in the browser.
d) Get a strong antiviral package which will slow their system down.
Now disabling Javascript isn’t a robust solution: somebody will turn it back on. Methinks somebody clever at Firefox could write an app for this. You can only run javascript in a special window and when you do it keeps a log, blocks all ads, blocks flash, etc.
No. I’m saying it’s an option.
Also, the $200 only provides critical updates. Other updates are extra.
I have little sympathy for those making BorgHunter’s argument. If this was the 1940s-1970s, Microsoft would be staring at a very serious anti-trust case with triple damages looming. Enough to bankrupt the company. Or enough to nationalize XP. You think that’s unjust? Fine: I’m saying that’s what would have happened. (I’m not saying the plaintiff would have won such a case though.) In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if MS shifts to a $50/yr XP support plan. That might even make good business sense: methinks it could be insanely profitable. (Ironically, they might have passed that idea over for antitrust reasons, though PR also played a role.)
I think Win7 64 is an upgrade from XP, due to greater stability, but the oscified Start menu and the cockamamie libary system are downgrades.
A large enterprise would presumably want XP hooked up to their servers but unplugged from the internet. Telling people “Don’t run internet on this machine” would be… partially successful.
I know you addressed it, but an open source XP would transform itself into a superior OS than Win7 and Win8. MS really doesn’t want that. As noted upthread, in theory a judge could order such an outcome, though our conservative politico/legal environment makes it less likely.
The relevant number is not when the software was first offered, it’s when it was last offered. Vista was a downgrade. One year after Win7 was introduced I think would be a fair number, about 4 years ago.
If you have sufficient time and focus (you may or may not), you should seriously consider Ubuntu. If you are even partially technophilic, there’s a strong case to be made for this. The best thing about Ubuntu is its support forum. I have found that they are pretty nice there.
Most people just want their damn computer to work. But a fair number partial technophiles like myself do exist. Anyway, there’s time between now and Apr 8, 2014 and it’s best to start early.
Reminds me of the “umbrema” which was an Umbrella - Enema combination. It didn’t do too well.
Once you buy the flying car, because that’s the only one available, I guess it’s reasonable to expect end users buy a third party kit and to take the wings off to make it act like a car. Really, that’s all we’re complaining about. It shouldn’t take 3rd party utilities or complicated settings to make Windows act like a computer instead of a tablet or phone if you install it on a computer.
It doesn’t. It takes 3rd party programs to make it look more like older versions of Windows. It functions perfectly well without them. Are you aware that Windows 8 comes with a fully functional desktop mode? From the way some people are posting here, you’d think the desktop had been removed entirely…
I’ve been using Windows 7 since the release candidate editions and I don’t understand some of the dislike it’s getting here. If I bought a new computer with Windows 8 I would do a fresh install of 7 on it. I thought it was better than XP in every way.
Using OpenSuse, I feel like one of those creeps who used to go and laugh at the inmates in Bedlam.
Seems to me if they allow installation on a computer within two years, they have a much longer obligation to support it.
My Mother is 75 years old and is pretty brave about the whole computer/internet thing, but in June of last year her computer imploded. She tried my computer with Windows 7, but wasn’t comfortable with it and she really did make an effort. So we looked for and found a new computer with XP on it for her.
What absolute BS. If they weren’t going to support it, they shouldn’t have been selling it. Now we have to shell out money for Windows 7, which she’s going to hate. There’s no way I’ll subject her to that mess Windows 8.
Bunch of elitists in this thread. Good grief.
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If you try to organize the Start Menu into a hierarchy of programs, Win7 will give you grief. It doesn’t work. Yeah, I know about the search bar. The problem is sometimes you have a program that you used 6-18 months ago and while you know what it does, you don’t know what it’s called. More generally, hierarchical and relational database models are complementary.
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What’s your experience with Libraries? I ignore them and adjust the shortcuts to Windows Explorer to avoid them entirely. I can’t even remember how they worked, except that I didn’t like them.
Please compare with Ubuntu if you can. I chose Ubuntu because of their large user base and crowd support.
Also, Excel is a fine program. And I wish that Libre Office Writer would tack the last 5 fonts used on the top of the font list. Or something.
My local Jack in the Box drivethrough uses XP IIRC. I saw that when they were (re)booting up. I’m not an IT person, but I’ve always wondered why embedded systems (if that’s the proper term for ATMs, cash registers and drive through screens) stuck with MS, rather than some stable form of Linux or Unix. XP is reasonably stable, but it’s not that stable.
I repeat my question. If are on the internet, have XP in 2015, have antivirals, web email, care with attachments, uninstalled Java and Javascript is turned off will you be safe from viruses? It’s true that you will have reduced functionality.
I don’t understand why people are so concerned about the support life of the product now, but weren’t when they bought it.
I bought a Samsung netbook a few years back, running XP - at that time when MS had decided to extend the sales life of XP for ‘low powered devices’. I had absolutely no illusions that I was buying something that had a very long support future.
I thought it was pretty obvious to everyone at that point that this was the last gasp for XP. Windows 7 was already on sale - we were buying something two versions behind current. Obvious what happens when you do that.
And, once again, this does not mean XP stops working on that date. It will keep working as well as any other 14yo product, so if that’s good enough for the various grannies and traditionalists and impecunious users, it’s good enough.
I’d like to see anyone make a case that they did not get their money’s worth out of the OS.
You and I apparently have different ideas of what’s fun. I’ve owned computers for years without ever having any interest in changing the default settings. To me, an appliance should work when I buy it and there should be no need for me to customize it or change it. As far as I’m concerned, the point of a computer is what you can do with it; having to do things to it is just a waste of my time.
I’m not incapable of learning these things. I’ve been using computers for decades. I’ve learned FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, DOS, and Windows 3.1 because I needed to know them to use a computer. But I would have been happier if I could have used a computer without having to learn these things.
Exactly. I don’t get why so many people are freaking out about this. You won’t get new updates. So what? I have a machine that still runs Windows 98 and another that still runs Windows 2000. Sure, there’s been software that doesn’t run, but it’s not like they are full of malware or anything. And, yes, they’ve been put online (albeit not all the time, and behind a firewall.)
Now, yes, XP is different in that there is a much higher number of people still using it, making it a little more profitable to target malware towards it. But it’s not like patches are the first line defense against viruses, anyways. You just need to use good computer hygiene, and run a good antivirus with behavior monitoring.
Sure, there will start to be more software that doesn’t support it, but that’s going to be mostly proportional to how many people still use it. I know of no software that plans on dropping support right away. I know Mozilla, for example, has no plans to lose 30% of their userbase.
So if you want or need to keep using XP, go ahead. The people I don’t get are people who are upgrading just because of this. If you so resent that this industry is the only one that makes you buy new stuff when the old stuff still works–then don’t let them make you change.
The end of sales date for Windows XP was June 2010. You’re right, they shouldn’t have been selling it. But, unless you got it from a Microsoft store, it’s hardly MS’s fault that a vendor was selling two-year-old stock, any more than it’s Kemps’s fault if Target sells you expired milk.