Is Microsoft playing a dangeous game of chicken with the internet? (XP)

[VirtualLarry]

We all know that XP's extended support phase ends April 2014.

But is that wise? Microsoft knows that XP is popular, and even possibly growing in popularity. It's possibly the most popular OS MS has ever released.

Some have used the argument that MS isn't getting any more revenue from existing users of XP, so why should they support the OS any longer than planned?

My argument, is, turn that in reverse.

Why doesn't MS look at this as a potential revenue stream. Charge existing and future XP users $50/year for a "patch support contract", and keep the security patches flowing. This would also get users used to software-as-a-service, that MS wants to push. Not to mention, there are some big corporations still on XP, paying MS millions to continue patch support for XP. Why not leverage that investment into a consumer revenue stream as well.

As it is, it seems very irresponsible of MS to unleash the threat of millions of unpatched XP boxes on the internet-at-large, just because they want to push their walled-garden Windows 8/8.1 agenda. Especially when they could solve the problem, keep their customers happy, and make money doing it.

 

[lxskllr]

That holds back everyone. People are free to run what they choose, but officially supporting antiques drags the rest of us down with them. MS would be wasting time developing for outdated technology, and the rest of us would be dragged down by the lowest common denominator.

Anyone running XP deserves what they get. If they're chained by outdated proprietary software, they got exactly what they bought. Maybe next time they'll choose more carefully. If they're poor, there's numerous modern, safe, and gratis replacements to choose from. There's no reason to run XP, and they've already been coddled too long.

 

[Maximilian]

That holds back everyone. People are free to run what they choose, but officially supporting antiques drags the rest of us down with them. MS would be wasting time developing for outdated technology, and the rest of us would be dragged down by the lowest common denominator.

Anyone running XP deserves what they get. If they're chained by outdated proprietary software, they got exactly what they bought. Maybe next time they'll choose more carefully. If they're poor, there's numerous modern, safe, and gratis replacements to choose from. There's no reason to run XP, and they've already been coddled too long.

Yeah this tbh... hate to say it as XP is great but its been over a decade already. Its had 3 successors, time to ditch it.

 

[metril]

XP was never made for the present world. It is an old dog taught new tricks and it's very bad at those new tricks. The underlying design of XP makes it vulnerable to today's malware. The design of Windows 7 and 8 make them resilient to all but the most devious of infections (user stupidity).

Microsoft has no obligation to "protect" the internet. I'd rather see all those running XP burn. I am not a fanboy. I am a variety OS user.

 

[nemesismk2]

I have noticed a rise in windows xp use and windows xp sales to new windows users. only time will tell what these new windows xp users are using windows xp for but i hope it's not for a huge internet bot network which will not be good news for anyone in 2014.

 

[ninaholic37]

Automatic Updates is stupid. Sometimes I turn it on for the LOLZ to see how much Microsoft can screw up my computer. I think turning it on is bad advice for any non-technical computer user though. Less issues to worry about. XP + SP3 working great here.

 

[Remobz]

Automatic Updates is stupid. Sometimes I turn it on for the LOLZ to see how much Microsoft can screw up my computer. I think turning it on is bad advice for any non-technical computer user though. Less issues to worry about. XP + SP3 working great here.

XP + SP2 for over 7 years and still working good.....lol!

 

[Maximilian]

Automatic Updates is stupid. Sometimes I turn it on for the LOLZ to see how much Microsoft can screw up my computer. I think turning it on is bad advice for any non-technical computer user though. Less issues to worry about. XP + SP3 working great here.

XP + SP2 for over 7 years and still working good.....lol!

In b4 omfg get with the times gramps, security holes stuff etc etc.

If it works for you and you're happy with it :thumbsup:

 

[Mem]

Sooner XP dies the better,XP has had more then its fair share of a very long round,all operating systems sooner or later are phased out,fact is XP is long overdue in that department.


Hate to say it but there are better operating systems including free ones out there with more features,better security etc...


XP RIP.

Is Microsoft playing a dangeous game of chicken with the internet? (XP)

No, it's only those that refuse to accept all operating systems including XP never last forever.

 

[WilliamM2]

As it is, it seems very irresponsible of MS to unleash the threat of millions of unpatched XP boxes on the internet-at-large, just because they want to push their walled-garden Windows 8/8.1 agenda.

You think they are ending support to push Windows 8? So I guess they ended support for Windows '98 just to push Windows 7?

XP's end of life had been known for years, long before anyone even heard of 8.

 

[escrow4]

XP is decrepit, it has no clue for lots of modern tech - UEFI, GPT/big ass HDD's, DX 11.1/2 etc and the kernel is horrifically insecure and old. You deserve everything you get next April. Move on already. Don't start with "oh, its custom, only works with XP, no point upgrading, and I'm broke" too bad, its been 10yrs+. MOVE ON.

 

[Victorian Gray]

I have noticed a rise in windows xp use and windows xp sales to new windows users. only time will tell what these new windows xp users are using windows xp for but i hope it's not for a huge internet bot network which will not be good news for anyone in 2014.

Curious as to just where these people are buying XP as sales ended at retail in 2008 and pre-installed sales ended in 2010.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/lifecycle

 

[Imaginer]

Curious as to just where these people are buying XP as sales ended at retail in 2008 and pre-installed sales ended in 2010.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/lifecycle

Old, warehouse stored computers in other countries is the first thing that came to my mind.

 

[Matt1970]

Microsoft essentially said bye-bye to XP in March 2011 when they didn't make IE9 compatible with XP. I hate to see it go. It was the first user-friendly multi-core operating system and compared to it's predecessors it was stable as a rock. Pre-service packs it wasn't much of a resource hog. You could run it decently with 128 Megs of ram but for the last few years I wouldn't sell an XP machine without atleast a gig of ram. A lot of that blame can be put on modern browsers eating a lot of resources though.

 

[Anarchist420]

although microsoft was a lot less harmful in the early XP days (DX 8.1 and earlier, no games for windows, and several other things) i dont really care that they're pulling the plug on xp.

and windows 8 sucks because i would rather just have a command line based os than win 8's terrible interface. they have been holding up progress for years by trying to make everything uniform.

that said, when they discontinue support for 7, i will gladly switch to linux (or whatever isnt microsoft) if i am still alive, if desktop hardware is still around, and if i have the money for a pc... i will never support microsoft for the disaster d3d9 and later are because opengl with extensions wouldve been a lot better, hardware wouldve been better (there wouldve been no room for ATi/AMD since they dont innovate), and games wouldve been better consequently.

 

[denis280]

Just more money to come out of you pocket

 

[LostHiWay]

You can still get support and patches from MS after April...just gotta pay. My company is in the middle of Win7 rollout that won't be done by then. Due to the nature of our business and regulators we can't go unsupported. We just cut a check in the millions to Microsoft for extended, extended support. As long as you have a migration to Vista, Win7 or Win7 in process, Microsoft will support your XP PCs, it just ain't cheap.

 

[Cerb]

Microsoft essentially said bye-bye to XP in March 2011 when they didn't make IE9 compatible with XP. I hate to see it go.

XP had its time, and it was a good OS, but time moves one direction, forward. They extended support for it once already. It costs them to keep supporting it. Microsoft will fix 8's UI issues over the next few releases, and then everything will be fine (hopefully, anyway...if they license it like C&R Office, I know a few cliffs I could jump off of, instead of dealing with it).

It was the first user-friendly multi-core operating system and compared to it's predecessors it was stable as a rock.

It had 2 OSes that met both of those criteria preceding it: Windows 2000, and Windows NT 4.

I just wish they'd do an SP4, rolling up all updates to the browsers and rest of the OS, so that legacy installs could be made quickly and easily. As it is, it takes most of a day for XP to get up to date, even running as XP mode on fast hardware, starting with SP3.

 

[Matt1970]

It had 2 OSes that met both of those criteria preceding it: Windows 2000, and Windows NT 4.

I just wish they'd do an SP4, rolling up all updates to the browsers and rest of the OS, so that legacy installs could be made quickly and easily. As it is, it takes most of a day for XP to get up to date, even running as XP mode on fast hardware, starting with SP3.

They never really considered 2000 and NT to be very user friendly.

 

[Maximilian]

They never really considered 2000 and NT to be very user friendly.

2000 was okay, it was basically XP in classic mode with a few bits missing IIRC.

 

[nemesismk2]

Curious as to just where these people are buying XP as sales ended at retail in 2008 and pre-installed sales ended in 2010.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/lifecycle

I have been seeing new shrink wrapped copies of Windows XP but i bet they are getting them from Ebay lol

 

[bruceb]

XP + SP2 for over 7 years and still working good.....lol!

I myself also run XP PRO but with SP3 and all other updates to date installed.
I highly suggest you also get SP3 and the other updates while you still can.

 

[bruceb]

XP + SP2 for over 7 years and still working good.....lol!

I myself also run XP PRO but with SP3 and all other updates to date installed.
I highly suggest you also get SP3 and the other updates while you still can.

 

[mikeymikec]

Why doesn't MS look at this as a potential revenue stream. Charge existing and future XP users $50/year for a "patch support contract", and keep the security patches flowing. This would also get users used to software-as-a-service, that MS wants to push. Not to mention, there are some big corporations still on XP, paying MS millions to continue patch support for XP. Why not leverage that investment into a consumer revenue stream as well.

I agree.

In response to "XP has had its day / it's not meant for today's world" etc, then let evolution take care of it, and Microsoft can make money out of it in the meantime (via OP's suggestion). If XP really has had its day, people will eventually stop using it because there are better alternatives available for a multitude of reasons.

At some point, Microsoft would declare that it isn't making enough money out of XP any more to make its "out of lifetime" support contracts profitable, so that's when they say that they're stopping.

IMO, Microsoft are playing 'follow Apple', and they would much prefer a return to the days of people upgrading extremely regularly in the hope that "the next version is better" (for MS, the days of Windows 9x) and that their hardware wasn't fast enough. This whole "desktops and laptops are fast enough these days" viewpoint that applies to most users out there is not as profitable, and large companies prefer to carry on the way they started.

Forced obsolescence is the name of the game. It's why Office 2013 / 365 only work on Windows 7 and 8. Why else, because writing words on a page or calculating a row of figures is terribly advanced stuff? Can anyone remember some huge leap forward in Office functionality because it took advantage of new Windows features? Same goes for IE's history.

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0
This shows (as of Nov 2013), according to its stats, Windows XP still having 33% of the market. Usually it is good business sense to try and aim your products and services at as many people as possible.

 

[John Connor]

I have various XP builds like micro and USB and run XP embedded on a thin client. It has SP3. I don't know what they use now for thinclients. Is there a Windows 7 embedded?

They do! http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/windows-embedded-standard-7.aspx