Poll: Will Microsoft really end Windows XP support on April 8??

[rockyct]

Yeah, that's my thinking. When they dropped support for Win98 almost no one was using it. The more MS tries to panic people into upgrading the bigger a public issue it becomes. And that 30 percent number will become more well known and people will have a wtf moment.

hmmm....
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241429/China_has_a_massive_Windows_XP_problem

By the time of XP's retirement in April, around 10% of all U.S. computers will be running the OS; in China, 65% of companies will do so
(from a year ago)

That doesn't seem right. I think the 30 percent number sounds right for the US.

Can anyone else verify the numbers?

I think we're forgetting how much instability we put up with on Win98. I remember it crashing at least once a day, if not far more. WinXP was comparably a rock solid OS once SP2 came out and it still is quite stable.

I say release one final update for WinXP that if it detects an internet connection, it restarts every few hours. Make it unstable if it is connected to the internet.

 

[postmortemIA]

I think we're forgetting how much instability we put up with on Win98. I remember it crashing at least once a day, if not far more. WinXP was comparably a rock solid OS once SP2 came out and it still is quite stable.

I say release one final update for WinXP that if it detects an internet connection, it restarts every few hours. Make it unstable if it is connected to the internet.

right, make paid software voluntarily misbehave... I don't think so

on the topic, xp support is not ending, just the free one. expect to see lots of sites offering updates that some paying customers decided to share around.
Windows 3.11 was supported until... 1998? nope. until 2008.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/05/microsoft_retires_windows_3_1_1/

 

[Rage187]

A large chunk of computers still run xp, but it bet a huge portion of those are pirated copies.

 

[BoomerD]

Don't know...and don't really care. I still have XP loaded on one HDD, but I almost never use it.

 

[Bateluer]

I say release one final update for WinXP that if it detects an internet connection, it restarts every few hours. Make it unstable if it is connected to the internet.

Uh, given how many of those XP machines are likely in corporate environments, Microsoft would have one hell of a class action suit on their hands for that.

 

[gorcorps]

Hope not

My company has already been pretty aggressive in migrating everybody to windows 7 before support ends for XP, and frankly certain software vendors of ours need a swift kick in the ass to update their shit. Every time MS has pushed the date back they've gotten lazy and pushed back their own updates for us. Those fucks are running out of excuses and we're running out of patience

 

[lxskllr]

right, make paid software voluntarily misbehave... I don't think so

You just described DRM. People don't seem to complain about that; rather they complain, but continue giving money for misbehaving software, and in the end, that's what MS really wants.

 

[techs]

You just described DRM. People don't seem to complain about that; rather they complain, but continue giving money for misbehaving software, and in the end, that's what MS really wants.

I'm not sure its a valid comparison. DRM doesn't make software malfunction on purpose. It is designed to just stop the viewing of copyrighted material. The fact it does sometimes cause problems can be said for lots of software that does nothing but try and provide some service.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm not sure its a valid comparison. DRM doesn't make software malfunction on purpose. It is designed to just stop the viewing of copyrighted material. The fact it does sometimes cause problems can be said for lots of software that does nothing but try and provide some service.

What the people want - software to play movies/music/whatever

What DRM does - Prevents the playing of movies/music/whatever

Nobody buys software and says "I hope this sufficiently restricts me". DRM provides the functionality of not functioning.

 

[techs]

If Win8 wasn't such a clusterf*ck MS would not be having this problem. XP would only be on less than 15 percent or possibly less than 10 percent of computers.

Look how little usage Vista has. Less than 8 percent, iirc.

 

[TwiceOver]

Win8 Isn't horrible. The good outweighs the bad. Not by much, but it does.

 

[techs]

Win8 Isn't horrible. The good outweighs the bad. Not by much, but it does.

It's a good time to sell that used Win7 machine. For the same price you bought it.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

they will keep supporting xp. there are tons of business and gov pc's running it that have no reason to upgrade even now

 

[88keys]

What the people want - software to play movies/music/whatever

What DRM does - Prevents the playing of movies/music/whatever

Nobody buys software and says "I hope this sufficiently restricts me". DRM provides the functionality of not functioning.

This.


Which is why I advocate piracy.

 

[Jaskalas]

With 30 percent of computers still running XP what will MS do on April 8?

Take your money for the upgrade

 

[VirtualLarry]

Uh, given how many of those XP machines are likely in corporate environments, Microsoft would have one hell of a class action suit on their hands for that.

Almost as bad - there is an XP update, that pops up a nag screen every few hours. Can you imagine seeing that, on an ATM touchscreen near you? What about cash registers? (Like the ones at Target, running XP.)

 

[StrangerGuy]

Microsoft should end support. No one should still be running XP or Server 2003. They've both been superseded by vastly superior operating systems (7 and 2008 R2/2012 respectively).

Anyone still running XP or 2003 is doing so out of pure laziness and should be turkey slapped.

Tell that to companies who will have to ditch perfectly fine $10,000+ industrial or scientific equipment just to move to Win 7/8. It's obviously their own fault for using XP.

 

[drebo]

Tell that to companies who will have to ditch perfectly fine $10,000+ industrial or scientific equipment just to move to Win 7/8. It's obviously their own fault for using XP.

Software vendor laziness is still laziness.

 

[techs]

Software vendor laziness is still laziness.

If its not broken why should software vendors have to fix it?

 

[NutBucket]

they will keep supporting xp. there are tons of business and gov pc's running it that have no reason to upgrade even now

Gov't has been aggressively upgrading to 7. Heck, some agencies were using Vista after XP.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

If its not broken why should software vendors have to fix it?

It is broken if it only runs on a dead os

 

[DrPizza]

Microsoft should end support. No one should still be running XP or Server 2003. They've both been superseded by vastly superior operating systems (7 and 2008 R2/2012 respectively).

Anyone still running XP or 2003 is doing so out of pure laziness and should be turkey slapped.

Better at what? In a lot of corporate environments, upgrades to newer, faster computers with a newer operating system will have zero positive impact on productivity. For all those workers whose day to day job involves the Office Suite, along with email, please explain exactly what benefit there is to buying them all new computers with new operating systems and new updated versions of Office. I still remember back when we upgraded to Office '07. We weren't allowed to save any documents in the newer version, because those still running '03 weren't able to open them. I dare say that 90% of the systems STILL are set to default save in the 2003 format.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that an upgrade at this point will actually hurt productivity short term as employees have to start learning all the nuances of the different changes. Not to mention the costs involved.

By 2016 Windows XP machines will be 10 years old, at least the ones sold in stores. By then most of them will have died.

Why will they have died?

 

[88keys]

Software vendor laziness is still laziness.

Speaking in absolutes are we?

Because the world is black and white.

 

[gorcorps]

If its not broken why should software vendors have to fix it?

It's not a matter of fixing, it's a matter of compatibility. If a software vendor still hasn't figured out how to get their product windows 7 compatible then they aren't doing their job. It's not like this hasn't been coming for years.

 

[gorcorps]

Better at what? In a lot of corporate environments, upgrades to newer, faster computers with a newer operating system will have zero positive impact on productivity. For all those workers whose day to day job involves the Office Suite, along with email, please explain exactly what benefit there is to buying them all new computers with new operating systems and new updated versions of Office. I still remember back when we upgraded to Office '07. We weren't allowed to save any documents in the newer version, because those still running '03 weren't able to open them. I dare say that 90% of the systems STILL are set to default save in the 2003 format.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that an upgrade at this point will actually hurt productivity short term as employees have to start learning all the nuances of the different changes. Not to mention the costs involved.


Why will they have died?

Sounds like a poorly managed corporate environment then.

My facility has upgraded to windows 7 without replacing machines. Why would you need to replace machines anyway if they still work? We've also upgraded Office every version without issue. There's a time period where people complain they can't read a file, but that only happened between 2003 and greater versions. There were zero issues with people upgrading from 2007 to 2010. Oh, and just because YOU don't see any benefit to the new versions of office doesn't mean everybody doesn't. Excel 2010 was a pretty good upgrade for our engineers. Manipulating charts is much easier now than in 2003.

This type of stuff is part of doing business. If a company can't handle it then they're failing at managing change. Not exactly something that a good company should struggle with.