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Set Your Watches For the End of Windows XP

Posted by timothy on from the why-don't-they-just-apt-get-the-next-version? dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In one year today exactly, Microsoft will shut down support for Windows XP. The deadline will prove a challenge for many of Australia's largest users of IT, all struggling to migrate to new Microsoft environments." Net Applications' chart of current OS market share figures shows XP only slightly behind Windows 7, even now.

12 of 712 comments (clear)

  1. Is this the point in time.. by OhANameWhatName · · Score: 5, Interesting

    .. where people finally say:

    "I'd rather have software that works than software that's supported?"

    Because it's about time.

    1. Re:Is this the point in time.. by 0123456 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      FWIW, in 2013, there have been 73 CVEs for Linux, 41 for Windows XP and 47 for Windows 7.

      Meanwhile, almost every non-technical Windows user I know has been hit by malware of some kind, while no Linux user I know ever has.

    2. Re:Is this the point in time.. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ipso facto? You want an ipso facto? For a few years prior to, and after the release of XP, I tried to keep three sons and a wife on computers. It proved to be nearly impossible. There were constant problems with viruses. Tons of malware, some of it installed by the likes of Compaq.

      I finally converted the wife to Linux. My "service calls" to her computer have been for things like failed hard drives, and "Where can I find an application to do blah blah?" Not a single virus. Not one malware. One scare involving Wine, but no lost or corrupted data, no infestations.

      Did the wife suddenly grow technically savvy, overnight? Hardly.

      Despite the claimed superiority of Windows security - only the tech savvy seem to maintain a healthy Windows environment. But, a housewife who doesn't understand the differences between file systems can keep a Linux installation running for years, with very little technical support from anyone else.

      Ipso facto - Linux has done something better than Windows. I think it's due to diversity, as much as anything. You may believe it's due to relatively low numbers of users. Whatever - Windows is ultimately less secure than any Unix-like which I'm aware of.

      When XP has become history, then we'll see how the numbers stack up.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    3. Re:Is this the point in time.. by smash · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Windows XP was released 12 years ago. Of a fleet of 600+ desktop machines running 7, the handful that have come back in the last 2 1/2 years have been due to TROJANS which were run as administrator by a user who had admin that shouldn't have been given it really.

      --
      I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
    4. Re: Is this the point in time.. by dropadrop · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Now imagine that non-technical user on a different OS. Probably would get the same results....it's a user problem, not an OS problem. They are the ones that click on the African prince email links.

      It's not just a user problem. In Linux updates are channeled through a central repository so when a user is prompted to update he will do it to pretty much everything in one go. In Windows he will only be updating system files which have not been the target of exploits lately.

      If you look at the last few years of common Windows exploits they have been deployed via bugs in 3'rd party applications, mainly Flash, Java and PDF. It's a user problem that they don't keep those applications up to date, but a system problem that keeping them up to date is too difficult for the average Joe.

      OS X is closer to Windows in this regard. They don't have a problem with PDF since the native reader works well and has not contained meaningful exploit vectors, but in regards to Flash and Java the situation has been even worse then Windows. Java updates have lagged badly, and there has been no update mechanism for Sun / Oracle Java. Flash updates have been issued at the same time as Windows but it took ages to have an update mechanism and when it arrived it was flaky and looked so dodgy that I would not dare use it. App store could have offered a central repository like it does for Windows, but none of the vulnerable apps are there, so it does not help.

      The user is just one part of the equation. You can of course blame him, but there are some realities you have to accept such as the fact that the user does not understand what's going on with the computer, does not have the patience to read the dialogues etc. With Linux updating is simple enough that even an average user can understand it, but there are other areas where the user will be in trouble.

    5. Re: Is this the point in time.. by jandjmh · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I clean up PCs for my clients pretty often - 1 or 2 malware infections per week. These are folks using PCs at work, doing their regular job, not downloading games, screen savers or much of anything at all. Because they hire me to keep their systems running they are (usually) fully patched, with working and up to date anti-malware.
      They do, in fact, mostly get infected by zero day exploits - from compromised web sites. And the compromised sites have been mostly places they go to in the normal course of doing their job. Order entry sites for parts distributors, a web site for booking conference rooms etc. Windows XP and 7 seem about equally vulnerable.
      When they ask how they could have avoided the problem I don't have any really good answer. Locking the PCs down so tight they can't install anything might help - but that's just not practical.
      I have them keep regular system image backups so it's easy to clean up ...

    6. Re:Is this the point in time.. by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Maybe, just maybe, the MS user base (at around 94%) is a bit more appealing to malware/virus writers than OS X (at around 5%) or Linux (at 1%)...

      Of course the fact that most botnot managers base their C&C on linux boxes and one linux box is considered pure gold for them, even compared to 1000 Windows boxes.

    7. Re:Is this the point in time.. by jbolden · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What you would do is you don't grant that permission at all. Instead the applications has to get permission on a file by file basis to files outside its sandbox.

      That's what Apple does and it is pretty effective in getting people not to grant permissions.

  2. Re:It's easy! by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 3, Interesting

    " I'm no IT professional and don't know the logistics of it all but when I upgraded it was like day and night. I really don't understand the slow uptake to 7. Laziness?"

    Core 2 duo computers are the oldest pc that can run windows 7 with any sort of acceptable slowness. Computers cost money. You do not have to be an IT professional to do the math here. We have plenty of pentium 4s in my environment still. No one wants to buy a brand new pc for some intern or browsing the web and basic word processing when XP runs perfectly well on those same p4s.

    --
    -
  3. Re:Windows 95 by Technician · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually Windows 95 is becomming secure because it is so obscure and limited that most current attacks are unable to run on it. Attacks that used to run on it are pretty much dead, much like Stoned for DOS is now officially no longer a threat to anyone. I remember seeing the article about a year ago, so sorry no current link to the story.

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
  4. Re:It's easy! by T-Bone-T · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I put a clean install of 7 on my 2003 laptop with a 2.4Ghz P4 and it ran faster than it did with a clean install of XP. Aero didn't work but I never expected it to. Vista, on the other hand, was pretty slow.

  5. Re:It's easy! by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm no IT professional and don't know the logistics of it all but when I upgraded it was like day and night.

    Hi. I am. I am right now on a team migrating a 140,000 desktops and laptops from XP to Windows 7. I do know the logistics. Those logistics is what is holding up the switch over, not the arguments for upgrading from XP. As it turns out, a lot of businesses don't have the deployment infrastructure to do this quickly. Despite tools having been on the market capable of this for a decade, it turns out that it's not a simple matter of "flip the switch. Eat bacon."

    With our own rollout at about 56% and about 38 weeks minimum to completion, even corporations with a lot of extra cash (I work for a financial company. A big one.) have run into significant logistical problems switching to the new operating system. Internal meetings are already being held in board rooms about how to manage the switch from 7 to "another" operating system; Reluctant to jump to Windows 8, but cognizant of the fact that this process will have to be repeatable and successful. We aren't even done with this project yet.

    This right here is the real story about the "End of XP"; It simply can't be switched off that fast by corporations. The technology, shockingly, moves faster than bureaucratic change. And that's all it is. That's what's keeping XP sitting in your rearview mirror with it's middle finger stuck out like it's an upset teenager in mom's minivan. Logistics. Pure, simple, logistics.

    "We here in IT know you love Windows 7. I apologize for the delay. As soon as I'm done taking the burned out husk of my last attempt to get this to you on a shoestring budget out of the oven, I'll get right on to the next one." Meanwhile, at Microsoft Headquarters...

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie