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

[Monroe]

Ponch ... not sure what OS you use since you have none listed but I look at it as more of a "slap in the face" to Microsoft. They have a game plan and "old XP" just won't play along ... the OS, which once made a lot of money for company, is supposed to be heading into the sunset and for sure it is ... but on it's own terms and timetable. Whether it "makes a comeback" of a point or two one month or drops a point or two another month isn't what it's all about ... the bottom line is: XP is a headache that won't go away, the XP hangover from the party that started years ago ... sure the dancing is getting a little slower, the noise makers and hats are getting old and worn but many just don't want to leave the party, after over 10 years.

[Tommy]

Windows XP just works! That's why people are still holding onto it. Why fix something that's not broken? I don't use Windows XP anymore except for my laptop which its sole purpose is for Skyping with a webcam. Other than that my main systems are Windows 2000 and Windows 98 SE. But the fact is I really have no beef with Windows XP. It does the job fast and well. I remember when XP first came out though. I LOATHED IT! It crashed on me all the time and it was crap compared to my Windows 98 machine (back in 2002 of course ). The fact is the economy has taken a huge toll on people's wallets and they feel if Windows XP still does everything they need it to, why upgrade? Really, why? So you can keep up with the Jones'? I still think XP will be supported by hardware vendors for at least another few years. What doesn't XP have that hardware vendors can add to their products to render them completely useless? And with the fact that Windows Embedded which is based on XP will still be supported for a few more years, patches from MS can probably be ported right over to Windows XP (maybe). The fact of the matter is, not everyone is into all this upgrading and if they are, they're probably more concerned about their smartphones (which I truly hate and will never get one) and they spend their money upgrading that instead of their desktop PCs. As I see it, once MS hits the kill switch, XP will still be on desktop systems for many years to come. I still expect to see people running it up until at least 2020. Maybe not a ton of people will be using it, but I still suspect quite a few will. It works and that's what people care about. This machine I'm typing this on is a Windows 98 PC and it's running just fine and does what I want, so why upgrade?

[Ponch]

Ponch ... not sure what OS you use since you have none listed

I use XP at home and 7 at work. XP at home because that's what my crappy OEM computer is licensed for (does this still make sense on this forum?) and 7 at work because that's what the admins deployed (that PC originally came with Win8).

But even in the context of a computer enthusiasts forum, I'll never claim any sentimental commitment to an Operating System.

For anybody working in IT, for obvious reasons, XP is the past. Any machine sold with XP is more than 6 years old (apart of cheap netbooks).

People don't upgrade their OS, they update their hardware, because they need more or because it fails. The new OS follows. Microsoft has millions employees. Many wrote XP back in the days, they can either say "thanks" or say "let's go on and make something else". What do you think they choose ? Why do you think they made Office XP when everybody was happy with 2000 or even 97? Then 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013. They need money and will do what they need or can to get it. But that's capitalism, not IT. And at this moment their is no real alternative.

I'm still promoting XP to my father, only because it's easier for me to leave the thing as is than to reinstall and have to explain to him how things that were down left have moved down right. I'm all for XP, I've used it for years and it all seems "so normal and so right", but I'm not defending anything and I don't see it meaning more in few years than 98 today. I guess I'm not in love.

[Tommy]

I'm an IT professional and I don't feel Windows XP is the past. Sure, it might be old, but doesn't it still work? Honestly, what does Windows 7 do that Windows XP can't do for a regular user? That's how I really look at a system. Does it do what is needed? If so, why bother changing it? If you love the eyecandy that Windows 7 provides, then by all means, go upgrade ASAP. But if you're looking for productivity, what's wrong with WinXP? On newer hardware, Windows XP is able to dominate due to its low spec requirement. It's like putting Windows 98 on a Pentium 4, it's a lot faster than having it on a Pentium Pro or Pentium II. And personally, I feel Windows 7 really slows down after using it for a few months. Maybe I'm more intense with my OS installs by doing big projects like video editing and n64 ROM hacking, but that's really beside the point. As for Office these days...it's a joke. It's not productivity, it's backwards as far as I'm concerned.

[Monroe]

OK ... fair enough about your thoughts on XP and other OS's. In my case, I'm still in the "excitement" stage with XP since I've only been with it since last year. I said this before in another post ... after getting everything installed and finally setup, I was amazed at how much I liked XP. I only wish I had made the change three years earlier. I was with Windows 98SE and always planned to just ride with it ... everything worked well but when I upgraded my Netgear WiFi card in 2010, I was having problems trying to get the card to work properly ... Netgear had Windows 98SE drivers but they didn't seem to really work. Decided to give XP another shot ... had tried it 2 or 3 times before through the years, but this time all went smooth and the WiFi card worked perfect.

So for me, XP and my older Pentium M notebooks will work just fine into the future. They are fast and many software programs that I used on Windows 98SE also work very well on XP.

Like your input and thoughts also Tommy ... it would be nice to see the XP numbers just get "stagnant" and refuse to drop for the rest of 2013 ... drive M$ crazy.

What's not to like !

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Even here you can see the XP forum is the less active. Even less active than the 9x forum. But that can make you hope it goes up again in a few years.

I've always taken that to mean that XP has less need of daily discussion because it works, is less controversial, and most of the bugs are solved and answer easily found.

So I wouldn't base any conclusion on that metric. It's almost as bad as using CEIP telemetry to destroy the classic Windows interface!

[dencorso]

Even here you can see the XP forum is the less active. Even less active than the 9x forum. But that can make you hope it goes up again in a few years.

I've always taken that to mean that XP has less need of daily discussion because it works, is less controversial, and most of the bugs are solved and answer easily found.

While that is certainly true, it's true also that there's RyanVM's, xable's and some other places where one can equally go for XP and be equally competently helped by knowledgeable people who love XP... And in fact there's considerable overlap in the membership roster of all the mentioned places.

[Guest]

One XP forum that's extremely active is answers.microsoft.com. People see MS and they think they will get the best answers. It's just a peer-to-peer forum.

Edited August 4, 2013 by -X-

[Guest]

[...] there's RyanVM's [1], xable's [1,2] and some other places [1,2,3] where one can equally go for XP and be equally competently helped by knowledgeable people who love XP... And in fact there's considerable overlap in the membership roster of all the mentioned places.

Indeed, there is. Added a few links.

Edited August 4, 2013 by 5eraph

[Andromeda43]

To somewhat quote a famous man, "they will have to pry XP from my cold, dead, hands".

And to quote a previous poster, "It works!". That about sums it up for this old tech.

I own 16 computers and all but one run XP. One, 12 years old, runs Win-8, and runs it dang well too.

I'm a moderator on a Windows 8 forum, but I'll never run it as my everyday OS.

Cheers Mates!

B)

[dencorso]

Since we're giving links, it'd be unfair on my part if I failed to mention 911CD and reboot.pro.

[Monroe]

Andromeda43 ... have a question (temporary off topic) about the 12 yr old computer running Windows 8. I have no interest in W-8 but I was curious for some more information on that computer. Is this one you built or just bought, find it interesting that you can run W-8 on a computer that old ... what make is it and maybe you upgraded a little?

thanks ...

... also from the other posters ... thanks for all the links, never heard of any of the sites myself ... found out about Rufus from the reboot.pro site.

[Tutorial] Install Windows XP From USB in a simple way

http://reboot.pro/topic/17327-tutorial-install-windows-xp-from-usb-in-a-simple-way/

Edited August 5, 2013 by duffy98

[dencorso]

Non-SSE2 machines cannot run Win 8... so, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the 12 y old machine has a P4 cpu (Willamette?).

[Monroe]

dencorso ... hopefully Andromeda43 will check back in with the answer. I take it that this is purely a guess and no "crystal ball" involved at all !

[jaclaz]

One XP forum that's extremely active is answers.microsoft.com. People see MS and they think they will get the best answers. It's just a peer-to-peer forum.

There is nothing bad in a "peer-to-peer" forum, as a matter of fact all forums - exception made for those created to support a specific product/tool where it may happen that someone actually officially "in the knows" posts answers/advices - are peer-to-peer, the issue may be - as always - with the actual peers taking part to the discussion topics .

jaclaz