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Win XP past Apr 2014... (was: Will XP be supported until 2019?)


steveothehighlander

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Just a couple more articles dealing with XP ... from the other side. Remember I like XP and intend to stay with it well after 2014.

Kill your Windows XP systems, before they kill you!

http://hal2020.com/2013/08/06/kill-your-windows-xp-systems-before-they-kill-you/

Yeah, that Hal guy is a piece of work. He's a definite Softie or ex-Softie, perhaps Formfiller can confirm this since I see that Hal is mentioned over at TechBroil from time to time.

Notably, the first and only place that Sinofsky showed up and commented at, the very next day after he was fired was at the Hal2020 site, see here. Other shills are also posting there like Peter not-so-Bright.

I mentioned that Thurrott article over in the big thread. Quite a FUD-fest these shills got going. Apocalypse Now! :lol:

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It's quite easy, say you got files A B C D

Some program is locking access to fileB

You attempt to copy those from folderA to folderB

On winXP, it will copy fileA, try to copy fileB, stop with an error message and cancel the transfer

On win7, it will copy fileA, try to copy fileB, skip it, copy files C and D, then notify you that fileB could not be copied. It even pauses the progress and gives you a chance to get access to the file without having to cancel the transfer.

This way, you only have to get access to fileB and copy it over vs having to mark all the other files and copy them as well. While it's not much of a difference with low file count, imagine copying a large amount of files with a non-trivial selection criteria. Every time winXP cancels the transfer you'd have to pick the files once again.

I don't think the explorer took a dive with NT6.x but it does have some annoying bugs in those versions. Speaking of UI working against you, I'd say that's what they did with win8. Forcing modernUI on a desktop was the one big mistake they made, otherwise win8 would be a good upgrade from win7. They did make some good improvements under the hood to make the OS perform better, too bad the UI gets in the way.

Okay, I see what you are getting at. So it's the handling of locked files from Explorer that is important to you. Indeed this is a definite improvement should you find yourself in this predicament on Vista-7-8. To tell the truth I just hadn't noticed that in over 7 years now! Most likely because I try to avoid that dumbed down interface by just popping the disk into an XP system and doing file stuff unencumbered by the new GUI training wheels.

After all these years since Windows XP came along ( which really stepped up the "locked" file enforcement compared to Win9x ) I just developed a habit of canceling the dialog, then de-selecting the locked file and repeating the copy and continuing. Windows has always been full of annoyances like this and you just compensate. Naturally this is not possible when you are copying folders full of files though. This is one of those classic +/- decision matrix where the question becomes: is it worth it?

For example, if someone had asked me about fixing this locked file problem ( which is clearly ridiculous for "copy" but not "move" obviously ) I would have said, yeah, why not, fix your mess. But if they said that while they're fixing it they would also clobber the user interface, dumbing it down for the n00bs out there, I would have suggested they skip the whole idea and just leave it alone.

The Windows 6.x GUI is another step towards Idiocracy ( Metro being a long jump ). I'm not against it, even sheeple need an interface, but not at the expense of everyone else. Fixing these little things would be great but not when they in turn give us that absurd file collision dialog designed by a committee of blind bureaucrats. They could have fixed this stuff and then provided tick box options to allow non-n00bs the ability to re-define these sorts of things back to sanity.

It reminds me of when Windows XP gave us the crazy mathematical file sort ( treating filenames as values instead of labels ) which drove lots of people mad. Microsoft screwed this one up and users were forced to solve it themselves by creating the tick box preference through a REG script toggling between the file sorting methods ( here's what my own custom version looks like ). Naturally this cannot work if GUI functions themselves no longer contain the code that looks at preferences in the registry in the first place, and this is where Microsoft is headed.

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I do agree they are dumbing the interface down, but they're not the only ones. It seems to be a trend in all 3 major OS branches, be it windows, linux (gnome3 anyone?) or apple. I also agree that it's a matter of deciding between coping with present annoyances and upgrading and having to cope with new ones. In case of winXP I usually just replaced the file copier with teracopy or comparable and was done with it. XP losing security updates though would move me to an upgrade.

I guess about the only reason I upgraded to Vista SP1 and then win7 was because I'm getting the OSes for free from MSDNAA. So far, I didn't feel win7 lacks anything compared to XP, and the annoyances are minor compared to, say, ModernUI on win8.

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CharlotteTheHarlot ... thanks for clearing that up with the Thurrott article. When I read it, I felt I had already read it from somewhere ... should have checked the "big thread" a little better ... a little bit of everything in there ! ... educational for me.

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jaclaz ... thanks for posting the earlier links, I missed them earlier today, you and Charlotte post so much information all over the place, it's easy to miss something ... the article: "Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet" is amazing.

"The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System ... But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military’s most important weapons system.

“We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”

Military network security specialists aren’t sure whether the virus and its so-called “keylogger” payload were introduced intentionally or by accident; it may be a common piece of malware that just happened to make its way into these sensitive networks. The specialists don’t know exactly how far the virus has spread. But they’re sure that the infection has hit both classified and unclassified machines at Creech. That raises the possibility, at least, that secret data may have been captured by the keylogger, and then transmitted over the public internet to someone outside the military chain of command."

and this also about encryption ... "But despite their widespread use, the drone systems are known to have security flaws. Many Reapers and Predators don’t encrypt the video they transmit to American troops on the ground. In the summer of 2009, U.S. forces discovered “days and days and hours and hours” of the drone footage on the laptops of Iraqi insurgents. A $26 piece of software allowed the militants to capture the video".

I noticed the article is dated 2011 ... hopefully the virus is gone and they have encryption in place.

and XP in use at Mission Control ... "Windows XP = Mission Critical Software". Well, if XP is good enough for Mission Control, well there you have it ... except that there doesn't seem to be too many rocket launches anymore !!! ... onward to the stars and asteroids with XP in my little rocket ship.

...

Edited by duffy98
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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, no April 2014 or whatever, XP died with the new Haswell targeted motherboards, not to manufacturer fault's but mostly Intel for its Intel parts (Audio, LAN, SATA, etc) lacking XP drivers. Intel is, just after Microsoft the one encouraging this position.

This is only a personal cry out when I found out after months (4 months!) of being decided to get a new Haswell CPU and after these recent days when refining my mobo choices that to my surprise I got to know that the new ones are not XP compatible, WTF? Couldn't they just wait for the next year when XP becomes officially unsupported? are they in a hurry or what? I'm very disappointed because I had on mind to set up a DUAL BOOT with W7 to make the transition the least traumatic experience possible.

I really don't know what to do, I'm surprised that after all these months reading here and there for building my rig nobody made this claim. XP is now officially outdated (only useable with old hardware), and this really pushed me to consider on building my new rig around a z77 based mobo.

I have been also said that XP and boards with UEFI isn't recommended. What's wrong with it?

Edited by Dogway
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If you want to really make a difference here is what you can do.

Call or write letters ( not email ) to all the involved parties. Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, AMD, Intel ( ... etc ). Tell them to continue supplying drivers for Windows XP and 2003 ( aka Windows 5.1 and 5.2 ) and NOT just Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 ( aka Windows 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 ).

Remind them that Windows XP accounts for fully 1/3 of all Windows installations. Here's some telemetry they can chew on: If they total up all of Vista and Windows 8 computers and then multiply it by four it is still less than Windows XP. Economically it makes no sense to support Vista or Windows 8. How would their shareholders feel about this sort of fiscal mismanagement?

Also mention that by following Microsoft's will they are complicit in their cynical planned obsolescence, willing co-conspirators with a convicted monopolist to obsolete perfectly working current hardware and future hardware. Tell them that you will be contacting your government representatives and asking them to once again punish Microsoft for predatory and monopolistic practices and will be suggesting that all collaborators should also be investigated and punished.

They play hardball in their backroom deals, it is time for the customers to do the same.

EDIT: typo

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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I wonder when people will start writing new drivers for XP.

I really don't see it. I made a quick google, and couldn't find anything serious, there are some sporadic and niche modded drivers for certain cards, etc. But I don't see a whole mobo (well actually the Intel stuff which is practically most of it) being supported by modded drivers. I hope to be wrong but... for now is more words than anything IMHO.

@CharlotteTheHarlot: I know it will be futile but I was really thinking on sending a complain email to Intel. I'm "one more" annoyed customer that I expect to sum for a great number if many of us do the same.

Really, what was their claim for dropping support all of sudden, did they say something on that? I mean what was the idea behind it? 1/3 of computers still use XP, and the OS is one year away from being unsupported by microsoft, what's the point of dropping support this year and not next, it doesn't make sense.

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Really, what was their claim for dropping support all of sudden, did they say something on that? I mean what was the idea behind it? 1/3 of computers still use XP, and the OS is one year away from being unsupported by microsoft, what's the point of dropping support this year and not next, it doesn't make sense.

It's not dropping support, it's 'not adding' support. For those new chipsets new drivers were needed. Most new chipsets are shipped in new computers, most new computers are shipped with a new OS.

So I guess Intel didn't think it is profitable to write XP drivers for the few people who put a new mobo in an old computer, or who install an old OS on a new computer.

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Economically it makes no sense to support Vista or Windows 8. How would their shareholders feel about this sort of fiscal mismanagement?

I'm sure AMD would love you to take care of Intel's shareholders. :angel

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Economically it makes no sense to support Vista or Windows 8. How would their shareholders feel about this sort of fiscal mismanagement?

I'm sure AMD would love you to take care of Intel's shareholders. :angel

Not sure what you mean. Anyway I was just inverting the prevailing logic to expose the hypocrisy, because we always hear how it is expensive to develop drivers for an old Operating System and other such bullcrap.

From a pure demographic point of view, Vista and Windows 8 should be avoided at all costs by all hardware makers and software developers ...

sd3Bxwn.jpg

Vista 4.24% + Win8 5.4% = 9.64% x 4 = 38.56%. Windows XP usage is four times greater than Vista and Win8 combined!

That's for July ( August 2013 report ), in a mere 24 hours we should have August numbers ( September 1 report ) and naturally it will look much the same.

It is certain that if the numbers were reversed, ( i.e., WinXP at 4-5% ) both Microsoft and all her sycophants would be trumpeting this as reason number one to stop developing for it. Therefore it makes sense that with the current numbers they should be making an effort to "support" WinXP, anything else would be detrimental to the company according to every sane business strategy.

But you bring up a great point about AMD that I hadn't thought of. Letters wriiten to AMD should suggest they continue to release chipset drivers for Windows XP since Intel has abandoned 1/3 of the market. Play them against each other :yes: AMD is nothing if not open to a surefire win in their endless battle with Intel. Letters to Intel should mention this dropping of XP as a clear opening for AMD and they should continue "supporting" Windows XP at the chipset level or else AMD will step in.

Recall how the news of potential future soldered CPU's got the "enthusiasts" in an uproar and AMD quickly responded by remaining committed to socketed processors. A day or two later Intel did the same, probably out of peer pressure.

I like this strategy. All we need to do is get one of the chipset producers onboard and the other will follow. Thanks Ponch for the great idea. :thumbup

EDIT: spacing, typos

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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