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

[88keys]

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.

When speaking of devices, remember we are talking about highly sophisticated equipment that probably costs more than your house. It's not the same a writing drivers for a video card, sound card etc. This is shit that has to work and even writing new drivers for a newer OS could compromise that when you're dealing with a device that has been designed and tested to work with one operating system.

I also suspect that it might just be easier to write drivers for XP.

 

[allisolm]

An estimated 95% of American bank ATMs run on Windows XP.

They work fine but now the banks will have to upgrade them all and pass the costs of that on to you know who. Do we get a better product out of it? No - just a more expensive one. .

 

[88keys]

I'm pretty sure most ATMs are running embedded Windows XP which has extended support for one or two more years.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Worse is how companies insist on using old school crappy coded made by outsourced contractors instead of hiring in house devs that can do the job properly. Most corporate programs are the biggest pieces of crap ever and have interfaces that look like they were designed for windows 3.1. Heck, the main ticketing program we use is telnet based. I think it runs on a VAX system or something of that era. There's a front end to it but it requires a very specific version of java and windows. Most of the apps are that way. I don't see my work ever upgrading to 7, unless they revamp the corporate tools first.

 

[allisolm]

I'm pretty sure most ATMs are running embedded Windows XP which has extended support for one or two more years.

Could be but I had read this article where a Diebold spokesman said that "the large majority of Windows ATMs run the regular Pro edition (although heavily modified and run with the embedded restrictions)." The Win XP support page seems to indicate that support for Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems ends 4/8/14. If I'm not understanding it correctly (which is HIGHLY possible), please straighten me out.

 

[Jay5]

great,i cant wait to see what operating system they make next.maybe it will be another failure like vista was or something that has the nsa's fingerprints all over it

 

[TwiceOver]

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

I don't get what you are saying here.

 

[ViRGE]

I'm pretty sure most ATMs are running embedded Windows XP which has extended support for one or two more years.

Bingo.

https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3220

And they're on private networks anyhow, so they're not exposed to the Internet.

 

[silicon]

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

I figure MS will do absolutely nothing...people will have to switch to windows 7 or newer or go with Linux.

 

[Skitzer]

Our Company is finally installing Windows 7 on our computers at the end of the month. Goodbye XP ... don't let the door hit ..........

 

[BladeVenom]

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

True, but do you want to see all those pirated copies taken over by hackers and turned into a 100+ million botnet for launching DDoS attacks?

 

[techs]

This may just turn out to be the worst public relations disaster since "New" Coke.

 

[mrrman]

8 sucks so hopefully 7 will be around for a while

 

[Exterous]

Software vendor laziness is still laziness.

Not all of us have access to those software vendors anymore though. We several pieces of legacy equipment from companies that haven't existed in a long time. One of the downfalls of working at a place that is one of only three manufacturing facilities in the world that make what we do is that we can't exactly just go out and find a new vendor. A fair number of you are using bandwidth passing through our products that can't be bought anywhere else. Heck - we lease time to research facilities because we have the last remaining device in the world. It runs on Win 98 and we have neither the money nor the expertise to built a new one and write software for it

 

[theevilsharpie]

Windows XP's free support is done.

Microsoft extended it before because Vista was late and had compatibility problems early on, but that was seven years ago, and both third-party vendors and end-users have had plenty of time to update their stuff for newer versions of Windows. For those that haven't, Microsoft still offers paid XP support contracts.

 

[theevilsharpie]

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

Why should Microsoft have to bear the software maintenance expenses for an end-of-life'd product?

I can understand being upset if they simply pulled the plug without warning, but Microsoft has a very clearly defined software life cycle, and they've been warning about Windows XP's retirement for several years.

Sucks for the organizations impacted by this, but they had plenty of notice that this was coming. If a lack of support is going to result in hardship for these organizations, that's purely a failure of planning and due diligence.

 

[ViRGE]

Not all of us have access to those software vendors anymore though. We several pieces of legacy equipment from companies that haven't existed in a long time. One of the downfalls of working at a place that is one of only three manufacturing facilities in the world that make what we do is that we can't exactly just go out and find a new vendor. A fair number of you are using bandwidth passing through our products that can't be bought anywhere else. Heck - we lease time to research facilities because we have the last remaining device in the world. It runs on Win 98 and we have neither the money nor the expertise to built a new one and write software for it

Keep in mind though that it's not as if Win98 or WinXP are going to stop working any time soon. You just can't safely have XP machines connected to the Internet. So when people are talking about the need to get off of XP, they're implicitly talking about Internet-connected XP machines.

 

[mikeford]

When Y2K was coming up, HP made available totally free, one last update of even ancient software. The reasoning behind it was liability, and ironically compared to XP, relatively few remaining users that wanted the update.

The crux of the issue with XP and MS, is that as MS finds exploits in current OS's and issues fixes, those fixes are a road map for virus writers to find the same or similar exploits within XP. The liability issue could be huge.

The last thing MS wants to see are headlines such as Windows users seek safety in Linux.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Can people let XP die already? I hated those employees who made us support their P4/Windows XP systems because of some stupid obscure program that only their department uses.

*shrug* It still makes a mighty fine VM platform for running Windows apps.

 

[spaceman]

i hope it dies
and i hope all the machines ranning it have bigtime problems

 

[dabuddha]

Anyone know where I can get some blank betamax tapes?

Here you go

 

[AViking]

I can understand the frustration as a business owner being forced to redo software and possibly upgrade equipment that still works. However XP was released 12.5 years ago. Either take the old equipment off the internet or upgrade. Lots and lots of these machines using XP probably don't need to be connected to the net anyways. As an example if you have a microscope that you're recording images from then either upgrade the machine or start moving the images with a USB stick. Sorry but if you want the convenience of emailing yourself the images then you have to upgrade the machine.

Drives me crazy to see XP used in a professional environment today. Oh I plug in this camera and it needs drivers? WTF!? Even if it's mostly hardware related transferring files at USB 1.0 and 2.0 today? USB 3.1 is out!

 

[Exterous]

Keep in mind though that it's not as if Win98 or WinXP are going to stop working any time soon. You just can't safely have XP machines connected to the Internet. So when people are talking about the need to get off of XP, they're implicitly talking about Internet-connected XP machines.

I know its not a kill date in the OS The story was to show the quote below just isn't true:

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

 

[imagoon]

If they are going to patch them for corporate they should do it for home users also. Charge 39.99 for two years, only purchasable online. However, no usability updates, just security. Charging 39.99 will encourage some people to buy a new machine, since their XP machines might not last two years anyway. 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. Plus, Windows 9 which should be better than Win8 if MS learned anything will be for sale.

They are. $200 year one / per desktop, $350 year 2 / per desktop and $550 year 3 / per desktop.

If you want patches go buy them. Quit expecting Microsoft to give your free patches forever when you dropped a "massive" $25-$200 13 years ago.

 

[Leyawiin]

My sister's ancient XP rig is a malware riddled mess and has been since I gave it to her five years ago. Her ten year old grandson makes sure of that - even with regular updates. I don't know how much worse it could get.