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Windows XP - Deepest Impressions


Jody Thornton

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I have been a long time user of XP.  I have an older laptop which would not handle newer versions of Windows, and I would not want to go to the expense either.  I have struggled with the issue of a browser and other programs that are dropping XP support.

My solution has been to go to linux.  I was scared at first, but have found it to be quite easy.  I am using AntiX Linux which is designed for old computers.  My laptop is much faster than it was on XP.  I don't have to bog it down with antivirus program either.  And all the current browsers work great on it.  I am using the Pale Moon browser.  The people on the support forum have helped me through any difficulties.  You can also try it before you actually install it by burning the iso to a usb thumb drive or a CD or DVD and then booting from the usb or CD.  I have been able to find comparable programs in linux versions.

I would highly recommend this as an alternative which is totally free and secure.

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Linux is the operating system for developers only, not for ordinary consumers. It is not user-friendly, the interface is just terrible, have many problems with application compatibility, does not have a normal Office package and so on. Windows XP, as all we know, is still 3-rd most popular operating system in the world after Windows 7 and 10 while Linux occupies only the sixth position, barely overstepping the statistical error. Source.

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Ok, XP sucks (when compared with Windows 2000).

As a matter of fact Windows XP is Windows 2000 with a number of mostly unneeded bells and whistles bolted on it.

Again the base issue is the "one OS to rule them all".

Until XP we had Windows NT and 2000 for "professionals" and Windows 9x/Me for "home users".

Both professionals and home users were pretty much happy about their respective OSes as each did what they expected. 

XP re-unified the two categories, adding multi-user logon (and permissions, and quotas) to the innocent home users, making the setup and mantainance of the system much more complex, while adding (largely unneeded) plug 'n play extensions, multimedia features etc, to the professionals.

The peak of abomination in XP came with Service Pack 2.

Since the OS was deployed (because of the "home users" target) on scarce quality hardware with unstable drivers that were conflicting with managing large amounts of memory the good MS guys decided to remove PAE support to more than 4 Gb RAM from XP, thus damaging the professionals that actually had more than 4 Gb.

On the other hand (thanks to the sheer quantity of "home users") the professionals benefitted from a number of software tools and new hardware (good enough for professional use) that would probably had never been developed  if the user base had the same numbers of Windows 2000.

And with some care, and once removed the most intruding bells and whistles, XP is as good as Windows 2000, actually it is Windows 2000, only a tad bit more bloated than needed.

jaclaz

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1 hour ago, Bersaglio said:

Linux is the operating system for developers only, not for ordinary consumers. It is not user-friendly, the interface is just terrible, have many problems with application compatibility, does not have a normal Office package and so on. Windows XP, as all we know, is still 3-rd most popular operating system in the world after Windows 7 and 10 while Linux occupies only the sixth position, barely overstepping the statistical error. Source.

I think Linux mint cinnamon is very user friendly actually, though there are some non-user friendly ones out there. LibreOffice and OpenOffice both run on a variety of flavors of Linux and i'd consider them 'normal'.

Quote

have many problems with application compatibility

If you mean "not a whole lot runs on Linux" you'd be at least partially correct, yes.

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7 hours ago, greyowl said:

I have been a long time user of XP.  I have an older laptop which would not handle newer versions of Windows, and I would not want to go to the expense either.  I have struggled with the issue of a browser and other programs that are dropping XP support.

My solution has been to go to linux.  I was scared at first, but have found it to be quit easy.  I am using AntiX Linux which is designed for old computers.  My laptop is much faster than it was on XP.  I don't have to bog it down with antivirus program either.  And all the current browsers work great on it.  I am using the Pale Moon browser.  The people on the support forum have helped me through any difficulties.  You can also try it before you actually install it by burning the iso to a usb thumb drive or a CD or DVD and then booting from the usb or CD.  I have been able to find comparable programs in linux versions.

I would highly recommend this as an alternative which is totally free and secure.

I'm glad you found an alternative but we're trying to keep xp alive because quite often Windows software on Linux can be limited and newer versions of Windows are quite bloated. Just like you, we do not wish to spend tons on newer hardware.

Dual-booting never hurts :)

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Certain Linux distributions are user friendly nowadays, while others are still the old fashioned way (like Arch Linux). Linux lacks many programs that are widely available on Windows, has limited support to professional suites (open source alternatives aren't always that good) and although there's a market to install programs within the official repository, there aren't many. Most of the time, you have to download packages, resolve dependencies and compile the program yourself with GCC++ (if it's written in C, C++). Also, every time you update the kernel, something might break (like pulseaudio) and you gotta figure out yourself. A deep use of Linux is not for everyone, but hardware compatibility is becoming less and less common for XP. An example? UEFI without Legacy BIOS support. My suggestion would be to use a Linux distribution on your new shiny computer (I personally use Fedora) and clone your existing XP to a new hard drive or convert it to a vdmk file to use a virtual machine (virtual box and VMWare are the most popular, but there are alternatives like QEMU). I'm using Fedora with Virtual Box and I can do pretty much everything in my XP. I have Avast Premier in XP and all the traffic goes through Linux with its firewall and antivirus (nod32) added on top of the Windows ones.

Edited by FranceBB
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A lot has been said here. For me at least, XP is still a stable and worthy work environment, and probably has had the widest hardware and software compatibility of any modern Microsoft operating system.

While I would argue that XP SP3 is much different than XP SP0 / RTM, at its core it is still NT 5.x. There aren't too many operating systems that can still be used on a daily basis after 16 years, and many third-party software and hardware manufacturers are still supporting XP, as long as it is SP3. Some examples are HP (any printer you pick up will support XP SP3), Norton/Symantec antivirus/security products, Linksys and Netgear wireless devices, Logitech keyboard/mouse products, etc.

There are many other manufacturers continuing support but I have made my point. In my opinion, if the system still does what it was designed to do, it is not obsolete, and continuing operation is not an issue.

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To think, I made this picture as commentary on Microsoft's campaign to put XP in the grave three years ago.

I put a big ol' rant in the commentary (with a shoutout to MSFN!) for that picture that delves into my personal reasons for sticking with XP and my frustration with contemporary events, but really my views align with @sdfox7 on this matter: "I believe an OS can only truly said to be dead when there is no longer any practical use for it."

I'm still running XP64 on my desktop, and XP32 (utilizing POSReady updates) on my laptop and, aside from gaming, I've not yet felt seriously disadvantaged from doing so. I've not run into any real crises, but I take precautions as best I can.

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What the heck? Have those so called security experts heard about kali linux , backtrack etc ? Have they heard about kernel security toolkit? (A tool from black market ) it is extremely hard to penetrate a fully unpatched xp in comparison to fully patched 7 . 

XP shares different technology than newer oses.  Upgrading will degrade performance and security. Last major xp vulnerability found in 2013.  Most modern exploit kits crashes xp . Most exploit kits gives bsod. Who will stop these fools from sharing miss information to masses? 

I have successfully compiled firefox 55 for vanilla XP. Just testing I will share soon.

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6 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

@Dibya

Once you've released your compiled Firefox 55 build, I'd like to mirror it in my XP end of life directory. I am trying to keep this directory specifically for the most recent version of software available for XP.

Sure why not. I am trying to fix webgl.  Lots of codes are changed so i am trying fix webgl.  I want to make prime time and widevine as pre installed plugins. 

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  • 1 month later...

Wow!  Lots to read here.  And I don't think bringing Linux alternatives into the discussion is a bad thing, because it should be possible route onwards.  See, just because Dibya (with all due respect) fights everyday against the death of XP, the wish to express the opposite side should be allowed as well - even on MSFN.  And that viewpoint is - the only reason that XP should EVER be discussed in 2017 is to decide how you're going to get off of it.  To some people, that is a completely valid opinion.  So I hope this thread allows for it.

I will admit, I'm impressed by the projects such as New Moon and what not (does it work as an x64 build by chance?).  But it's like me admiring a Garrard 1960's record changer.  I love watching them play, but I'd never use my best vinyl on it.  See what I mean?  Not meant to be argumentative - it's just a different viewpoint.

So I'm looking forward to engage with you guys on this.  Disagreements don't have to mean fighting - but I find I learn more from those I disagree with, than those who just echo my same sentiments.

:)

 

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1 hour ago, JodyT said:

Wow!  Lots to read here. ... [snip] ...   - the only reason that XP should EVER be discussed in 2017 is to decide how you're going to get off of it.  To some people, that is a completely valid opinion.  So I hope this thread allows for it.

... [snip] ...

So I'm looking forward to engage with you guys on this.  Disagreements don't have to mean fighting - but I find I learn more from those I disagree with, than those who just echo my same sentiments.

:)

Absolutely, @JodyT, and this is a perfect thread for you to comment in to your heart's content. :)  Hopefully, there will be many, respectful, comments on both sides to keep the conversation interesting.

Cheers and Regards

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