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Microsoft to Windows XP: Please Die, Already

N

nec207

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
429
0
Microsoft is eager for Windows XP, its 10-year-old operating system, to fade into computing history. The sooner the better, in fact. But for that to happen, the Redmond company needs millions of XP users to drop creaky, old XP and migrate (hopefully) to Windows 7, or even to Windows 8, which won't arrive until next year.

Windows XP's demise may be proceeding steadily, but Redmond wants to pick up the pace. According to analytics firm Net Applications, XP finished September 2011 with a 50.5 percent share of all desktop operating systems, a drop of nearly 10 percent from just ten months earlier.
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/242575/microsoft_to_windows_xp_please_die_already.html


Looking at that web site and reading the replies it looks like alot of people like windows XP way better than windows vista and windows 7 ??

What does this mean for computers in the future ?I know alot of people say when MS stops supporting windows XP they are going Linux or getting Mac.

Never did I thought there was so many people anti- windows vista and windows 7 .

I know windows XP is really bad for security and should never be hooked up to the internet
 
I don't really see anything appealing to windows 7 (which I do use). I'd be just as happy using windows xp. Other than prettier UI elements there's not really any wow factor over the previous OS.

When Microsoft can make a OS 9 to OS X type wow factor OS then I will be excited.
 
Zombie Acorn said:
I don't really see anything appealing to windows 7 (which I do use). I'd be just as happy using windows xp. Other than prettier UI elements there's not really any wow factor over the previous OS.

When Microsoft can make a OS 9 to OS X type wow factor OS then I will be excited.
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Agreed. I still use XP fairly regularly and don't feel like I'm using an 11 year old OS.
It works well. I don't need to upgrade just because it's 11 years old.

Mind you, I do have computers with Windows 7, but this specific computer I left on XP
 
nec207 said:
I know windows XP is really bad for security and should never be hooked up to the internet
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To be fair, Microsoft, as well as third-parties have made some efforts to have a tolerable online security on XP but, obviously, that's to the expense of performance and general user experience.
 
There are a few XP machines left in my office. They are just infuriating. Bugs, crashes, blue screens, the occasional virus making it through all the defenses and making mincemeat of things. They're up to date, properly configured and maintained, XP is just badbadbad. They rarely make it a day or two without needing a reboot. Meanwhile my MBP on 10.6 is:

Code: 
23:58  up 137 days,  8:22, 2 users, load averages: 0.75 0.45 0.38

While I'm still not a great fan of Windows, the office computers on Windows 7 are so much more stable and just generally functional.
 
I don't get why people prefer XP over Windows 7? I understand hating Vista, it was terrible, but Windows 7 has been nothing but excellent to me. Why would they go to Linux when 7 is basically the OS they know and love but improved in every way.
 
XP is still a solid OS....that's why people still use it (either that or they are just too lazy to upgrade to 7 or don't know how to upgrade)
 
Microsoft's problem is that many businesses have only just managed to switch over their many computers from NT 4 to XP. And now they're expected to miraculously upgrade to 7 to maintain support. Unfortunately, for a large global business, upgrading all their PC computers takes a long time.

That said, there is nothing wrong with XP. I do however prefer 7. If people want to continue using XP, let them. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. At least Microsoft actually support their software for a period longer than 2 years.
 
My company is still on windows XP, while the transition to win7 is all but assured, it has not occurred. The schedule has continually slipped.
 
1) For companies who haven't upgraded yet but are eligible to, I think the motto "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applies.
2) For home users, MS perhaps should lower the price to upgrade. 100 euros is too much. Besides the price we will have to reinstall everything from the beginning. Too much fuss
 
I stuck with Windows XP till 7 was released. Was such a breath of fresh air. It's still Windows, but runs far better.

I guess a lot of people are used to XP, and switching to 7 means relearning the user interface. A lot of folk won't do that unless they have to (i.e. their ancient PC finally dies and they can only buy a new one with 7 on it).
 
joemod said:
1) For companies who haven't upgraded yet but are eligible to, I think the motto "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applies.
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Actually its more along the lines of the cost to upgrade.

The existing hardware may or may not be powerful enough to run win7, and more importantly the enterprise applications may have problems with win7. These two factors are the main contributing reasons why my organization has been delaying and deferring win7.
 
Even though I do have Windows 7, I still have XP installed.

In my case, it's because I play some older games that don't run (or don't run properly) on 7.
 
My company is still on XP and I have one personal machine I bootcamp into XP for some specific software I use.

Microsoft is proud of "owning" the business market, but the problem is that companies don't shell out money on new OS's and hardware just so their employees can keep using email, Excel, Word, and Powerpoint. As someone else mentioned, it also depends on any specialized software they use as well. If their accounting, billing, or documentation software hasn't upgraded and been fully tested then they are not going to risk making the move. All of this means that on the business side adoption of new tech is typically slow. And let's not even mention non-profits who may not have the revenue to upgrade.

Are there some companies on the verge of tech, sure, but that's not the norm.
 
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This year I went from one high-tech Fortune 100 company to another, and I also have exposure to another Fortune 200 company in the mix.

All 3 are running XP SP3.

Only now are there notices that Windows 7 is coming, eventually, some day.

I also know that 2 of the 3 companies actually cancelled or cut their MS programs to the bone in the fun 2008-2009 timeframe - so they were stuck on XP until they ponied up at least some more bucks to MS. I wouldn't doubt that there are a lot of companies in this situation.
 
The only install of Windows I have currently is XP. I tried Windows 7, and it was buggy so I dumped it. There was no "Wow" at all.
 
why hasn't Microsoft done it like Apple ,
instead of introducing service pack 1 , 2, 3 they could have made it easy stop support for xp apart from a 1 year with security updates and such and make it impossible to install on newer hardware then a pentium 4 , make it perfectly understandable to software developers that its totally out-of-date, so no more newer programs after 2003 available, same with vista after windows7 and for windows7 after windows8


You can bash Microsoft and Windos xp and all its security holes , but even 11 years after it still runs and has no problems with flashplayer even if you still got a pentium 4 , still near all new programs have it as minimum requirement. So you got the option to but are not forced to upgrade the OS or your hardware every other year

a mate from me ( he is only using his computer for websurfing and emailing and a bit office ) switched to windows 7 on my old fujitsu siemens computer with a celeron 2.something ghz i sold to him in 2005 , and it runs just fine , and even the newest flashplayer runs , he did only upgrade to windows7 because the old windows xp disc didnt work any more after he replaced the failed harddrive and needed to reinstall

the long time support for hardware and OS was a reason for me to switch back to Windows
 
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I do not understand why would companies still be using windows XP ? You would think they would want to be malware free.

Why not use windows vista or windows 7 ? They have much better secuity to stop malware . Has it only now Microsoft is starting to copy OS X and Unix with UAC and sandboxing .

You would think secuity would be number one on the priority.
 
gkarris said:
Why spend $100 to upgrade to Windows 7 when the XP Computer is worth only $100? :eek:

;)
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May be other than UI change , better security and nicer UI it is not that much of a upgrade than windows XP.

MS is too much in the 90's way of thinking.
 
nec207 said:
You would think secuity would be number one on the priority.
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Nope - it's *money*. See my post above.

Many companies have already purchased subscriptions to AV software. Going to 7 (Vista is and was always a non-starter) isn't really compelling.
 
smithrh said:
Nope - it's *money*. See my post above.

Many companies have already purchased subscriptions to AV software. Going to 7 (Vista is and was always a non-starter) isn't really compelling.
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spyware and adware can steel sensitive stuff from the company !!! Never mind the banks and money.
 
as someone who is the in the middle of transitions from XP to windows 7 I can say there are really 4 simple reasons people are hanging on to XP:

1. Compatibility with existing software/infrastructure-there are lots of apps that either don't work or only partially work with Windows 7 and that fixes either require full software upgrades, patching dozens of machines or in some cases, finding alternative software. This is time consuming and expensive

2. Most PCs that run XP likely can't run Windows 7, so you are talking about buying all new hardware for an organization.

3. User training-some people will have a hard time moving to Windows 7-they are so used to doing things one way and now have to do it another. While some of them may have used PCs since that had Vista or 7 at home, some may not have and they may have be re-trained.

4. Finally-must IT people don't want the hassle of replacing dozens (or hundreds) of PCs that already work just fine in their environment
 
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