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Microsoft Counts Down To XP Death
mikejuk writes "Microsoft have just released an end-of-support countdown gadget that ticks off the days until XP is no longer supported — but it only runs under Vista or Windows 7! It focuses the mind on the fact that XP is being forcibly retired. It is a wake-up call to think hard about the unpleasant situation and consider the alternatives.So as you watch the count down to XP's death tick by think about the problems created by using software that actually belongs to someone else..."
Doesn't *ALL* software "belong to someone else"? Even with FOSS software you depend on others to maintain it. If they stop, then you don't get updates. Now sure, you could theoretically go down to the local college and get a programming degree and learn to do it yourself--but how often does that REALLY happen? At least with MS, I know the software is going to be supported for several years, and not become adandonware because Jeremy got a new job and doesn't have time to update it anymore.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
So as you watch the count down to XP's death tick by think about the problems created by using software that actually belongs to someone else..."
Yes, you're better off with opensource. It's much nicer knowing software you depend on may be abandoned without notice.
Similes are like metaphors
Windows XP is almost 10 years old. Find me a Linux distro that supports 10 year old versions, on the desktop.
No one cried foul when Windows 98 was EOLed, after only 8 years. That was because they liked XP. Microsoft has pushed back the EOL on Windows XP multiple times due to complaints, but it's time to move on.
If you dislike Vista and 7, use something a different operating system. Don't pretend Microsoft should support 10 year old software.
What abuse of power? You can continue using XP for as long as you want; they don't magically make it stop working.
They are just saying they are not going to spend further time and money updating it. After almost 10 years this should have been expected seeing that most software isn't maintained nearly as long.
his is potentially good for the economy, because corporations across America will soon be forced to update the operating systems and IT departments may need to hire new techs for installations.
This is just another version of breaking windows (*sigh* just re-read this, the glass kind) being "good" for the economy because it caused people to buy windows and pay window repairmen. The "good" for the economy would be found instead in people switching to more efficient software, having less system downtime, and more security resulting in less spam/viruses wasting resources. But the simple forced switching causing companies to hire IT workers is not good for the economy.
Don't get me wrong, IT workers are important for a company, but you need to understand that all they do is lose a company money. Like HR, they usually don't produce product, they are on overhead. A good IT person can "save" a company huge sums of money by being efficient and lowering overhead and downtime company wide, but increasing IT budget is always a loss unless that increase is recouped by their ability to increase efficiencies elsewhere.
Good for the economy? Would you please look up "broken window fallacy"?
But in a nutshell, it's not of economic benefit to replace something that serves its purpose INSTEAD OF getting something new which serves a new purpose. The resources used "fixing the broken window" cannot then be used to, say, glaze a new window in a new store.
--PM
Dude, XP is over 10 years old. Please inform me which popular Linux desktop distro has backwards support for 10 year old packages?
XP was still on sale last year when I bought my netbook (now wiped and running Ubuntu). The date it was first released is meaningless.
Just because Microsoft won't support XP, doesn't mean my company won't still be using 14+ year old software.
Luckily your box will continue to work fine; people seem confused by end of life. If you've never had problems and you don't need anything new (like patches to keep up with virus writers) then this end of life won't change your experience at all.
It's like selling you a car with a really long warranty that includes modifications due to changing laws - except the internet is a country that changes it's it's vehicle requirements all the time. When that warranty expires and they're not willing to keep working on your car (for free), doesn't mean you can't drive it around your own lot; leave it parked somewhere as a garage, or even drive on the road and try to avoid the police. It just means that the manufacturer is no longer providing a value added service; when they said they wouldn't.
If I buy a brand new car, of a model whose current design is based on one initially released ten years ago, I absolutely still get a standard warranty with it. Indeed, this happens all the time, as refinements and superficial changes are added to an existing frame.
M$ should get smart and release an XP v2 (aka another service pack) with a few select fixes (GPT support for one, removal of the licensed memory limit, etc). That way they can make their $200 license fee, and still make people happy.
I have a win7 machine that all built out with the latest and greatest. You know what? I don't use it, instead I sit down at my 4 year old windows XP machine and use it instead. Thats because with about 8x the hardware (high end CPU/SSD/graphics) it simply responds slower than XP on a couple year old dual core and a freeking spinning harddrive. Plus the XP machine works with a bunch of software that doesn't work on 7 (old eeprom burner, etc). Recently I put a couple of the hacks on the xp machine, and have 8G of memory and a 4TB esata disk attached. So its possible to get "updates" just not via the M$ route.