XP RIP April 8, 2014

Potemkin · 09-29-2009, 08:38 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...092804249.html

Should You Give Up XP for Windows 7?
Windows XP retained many loyal users during the dark ages of Vista, but the emergence of Windows 7 may signal the end of an era.

PC World
Tuesday, September 29, 2009; 12:19 AM

The vast majority of PC users still haven't adopted Vista. Eight years after its release--and months after Microsoft officially discontinued it--Windows XP is more beloved than ever.

Illustration by Keith Negley>So will Windows 7 convince XP loyalists to switch? Instead of guessing, we decided to ask them. In August, we conducted an online survey of more than 8000 people who told us that XP was their primary OS. The top three reasons they haven't upgraded to Vista: They're comfortable with XP, Vista lacks features that might justify an upgrade, and they're concerned about driver and compatibility issues.

Vistaphobia ran high among respondents who had tried Windows Vista (62 percent said that their opinion of the OS was somewhat or very negative) and among those who merely knew about it (81 percent were somewhat or very negative). But most respondents said that were keeping an open mind about Windows 7.
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In fact, the 26 percent of respondents who said they had already used Windows 7 were quite enthusiastic about it: 73 percent said that their opinion of Win 7 was somewhat or very positive, and only 11 percent said that it was very or somewhat negative. Also, 56 percent said that they intended to move to Windows 7 immediately or eventually. Among respondents who had read about Windows 7 but hadn't used it, 56 percent said that their opinion of Win 7 was somewhat or very positive, and only 12 percent said that it was somewhat or very negative.

Still, a meaningful minority of respondents have no interest in upgrading: 40 percent said that they intended to stick with XP indefinitely. Which brings up another interesting question: When will it become impractical to keep using XP and spurning its successors?

Supposedly, that date has already come and gone: Microsoft formally discontinued Windows XP on June 30, 2008, and it ended mainstream support on April 14, 2009. But the company has continued to permit PC builders to offer downgrade discs that let XP fans install the OS over Vista. It says that manufacturers can ship Windows 7 machines with XP downgrades for 18 months after Win 7's release or until it ships the first Service Pack for the new OS--whichever comes first. In other words, XP downgrades may be available until April 22, 2011 (assuming that Microsoft doesn't extend the deadline further; it has already granted XP so many stays of execution that refusing to grant any more would be a bit surprising.)

Windows XP's final death knell is scheduled to sound on April 8, 2014. On that date, Microsoft says that it will no longer take support calls and issue security fixes. This doesn't mean that no one will run XP on April 9 and beyond--it just means that they'll be on their own. XP holdouts, you've been warned.

kaneohegirl · 09-30-2009, 02:13 AM

lol and vista? how long will that be supported? LOL

Potemkin · 09-30-2009, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirl

lol and vista? how long will that be supported? LOL

I get that people get used to certain pieces of software and doing things but I don't get the opposition to Vista.

It came on my new quad core about a year and in the last 6 months or so my company migrated to it.

Sure, things are in different places than XP but the learning curve isn't bad.

Sure, it has some problems with older/slower machine or machine without sufficient memory but so did XP.

Speaking of that, a lot of people complained about XP also when it first came out. Now, however, there is a lot more Internet/WWW access so things go viral faster.

My guess is a lot of the complaints can be put at the hands of the implementers or the companies.

It is tempting just to buy the "upgrade" version because it is cheaper. Big mistake. All that junk yu have leaded on machines is still there, still is the registry, and is going to cause problems.

Buy the full version and do a clean install if you want to try a new os.

Any OS is going to have problems with an older machine. If you have an older machine and Vista won't run on it neither will Win 7.

Am I a fan of upgrading? No.

If what you have is "good enough" why upgrade. If you surf, write some e-mails and maybe do simple documents and spreadsheets why bother?

Upgrading for the same of upgrading is stupid in my opinion.

What I see most people using PCs to do Windows 98 and a Pentium 4 machine would be enough.

PS one more thing. People, think! You don't have to buy a new monitor unless you want to when you get a new PC. Just use your old one. Same for your favorite keyboard. I like a "clicky" one myself. A new KB and mouse comes with the PC but you don't have to use them.

Feel good to get that off my chest. (Of course, when you get older, I am sure that 20-24" flat panel monitor with larger fonts is nice.

)

kaneohegirl · 09-30-2009, 10:27 AM

I personally dont mind vista... I needed a new comp and thats what came with it...

of course the hubby hated xp and wanted to go to whatever was before that but once I got the sidebar turned off he got ok with it LOL

I know I want to get a laptop at some point so I gues Ill wait for a bit so win7 can get some bugs worked out LOL

shalym · 09-30-2009, 03:32 PM

I installed Windows 7 on 2 laptops that had been running Vista last weekend (I'm in the MS Partner Program, so I got my copy available for download a couple of weeks ago) Both of the laptops were "designed for Vista" and had it installed on them when I bought them about a year ago. Both laptops saw significant performance boosts after the installation of Windows 7. A printer that was never able to work at all on Vista works flawlessly on Windows 7. My son plays WOW on his laptop, and he says that it's 100% faster, with less crashes.

I was not happy with Vista at all...I am very happy with windows 7.

Shari

spinnerholic · 09-30-2009, 04:54 PM

Thanks, Shalym for the review of Win 7. Sooo nice to know you really like it.

How about the installation? How difficult is it? I'm anything but a computer whiz and I'm just wondering if someone like me can do it or if I need to hire someone who knows what they are doing.

shalym · 09-30-2009, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinnerholic

Thanks, Shalym for the review of Win 7. Sooo nice to know you really like it.

How about the installation? How difficult is it? I'm anything but a computer whiz and I'm just wondering if someone like me can do it or if I need to hire someone who knows what they are doing.

It was honestly the easiest OS install I've ever done--and I've done a LOT of them--including many flavors of Linux, Unix and MacOS.

I would be confident to have my mother or my brother do the install on their own, and both of them need help just sending email most days.

Keep in mind that I did a full install, not an upgrade. I don't know how much more involved that is--I'll be trying an upgrade on another computer this weekend, hopefully, if I get the time. From what I've read, the upgrade may be considerably more complex...the upgrade paths are very convoluted. Unless you have programs that you absolutely HAVE to have that you no longer have install disks for, I would do a full install. I'm just doing the upgrade this weekend to see exactly what is involved so that I can support it for my customers.

Shari

Sysiphus · 09-30-2009, 06:16 PM

Quote:

I get that people get used to certain pieces of software and doing things but I don't get the opposition to Vista.

My wife's laptop came with Vista (no choice). Admittedly, it's a Chevy (or maybe an Buick), and no Cadillac. Vista took about 2 days to turn it into a Yugo. Hard drive is constantly churning. We have done all diagnostics, etc, no help. Kinda like a house with mold.

My laptop (same brand, technically slower) is three years old now, and has Windows XP. Works like a charm still.

Zazzu · 09-30-2009, 06:20 PM

I just ordered a new pc with XP on it. DD and I have a side business and the graphic programs we use are expensive (at least to us) and are not compatible with Vista and we would have had to buy expensive upgrades for the programs to use them on Vista. DD bought a new laptop, Vista included and the progs would not run on it. Thankfully her DH needed a new laptop also so he took hers and she bought another one with XP.
In both of our cases in order to get XP on a new machine, they were custom ordered but that was ok because we got to upgrade a lot of things that are not standard on a box store pc.
So it's not only an aversion to new software some people have it's an upgrade cost factor.

spinnerholic · 09-30-2009, 09:24 PM

Shalym, I'd say I'm on a level with your mother and brother, so your reply gives me confidence! I don't like Vista at all and when the price comes down a bit after Win 7, like it always does a few months later, I want to give it a try.

Ought Six · 10-01-2009, 02:46 AM

I have been putting it off for years now, but I think it may be time to switch to Unix.

afljafa · 10-03-2009, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ought Six

I have been putting it off for years now, but I think it may be time to switch to Unix.

Unix as a desktop OS - Not really common but I suppose it could work. I expect drivers might be somewhat of an issue as the kernel is proprietary and unlikely to be bloated. It's also pretty expensive - Windows whatever is probably cheaper.

Windows 7 by all reports is supposed to be quite the OS. It even gets good raps from around the traps from a number of linux geeks.