Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's Ticking Time Bomb Is Windows XP
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Shona Ghosh writes at PC Pro that the final deadline for Windows XP support in April 2014 will act as the starting pistol for developing new exploits as hackers reverse-engineer patches issued for Windows 7 or Windows 8 to scout for XP vulnerabilities. "The very first month that Microsoft releases security updates for supported versions of Windows, attackers will reverse-engineer those updates, find the vulnerabilities and test Windows XP to see if it shares [them]," says Tim Rains, the director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group. Microsoft says that XP shared 30 security holes with Windows 7 and Windows 8 between July 2012 and July 2013. Gregg Keizer says that if a major chunk of the world's PCs remains tied to XP, as seems certain, Microsoft will face an unenviable choice: Stick to plan and put millions of customers at risk from malware infection, or backtrack from long-standing policies and proclamations." (Read on for more.)
"In either case, it will face a public relations backlash, whether from customers who complain they've been forsaken or those angry at Microsoft for pushing them to upgrade when, in the end, they didn't need to." Microsoft makes little or no revenue from customers with old PCs, and desperately wants them to buy a new Windows system of some sort. "It's very easy to say 'just upgrade,' but not all business can do so," says Lawrence Pingree, citing money, resources and mission-critical software. "One of the main reasons why people cannot leave XP is compatibility with other software." Nor is Microsoft blameless. XP has hung around because of the mistakes Microsoft made with Windows Vista, the OS flop that outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer copped to as his biggest regret. If Vista had been more like Windows 7, or had shipped at its original "Longhorn" timetable of 2004, then been followed three years later by Windows 7, XP would not have had the opportunity to lock up the ecosystem for a decade. Pingree has a suggestion for Microsoft. ""If it's such a big problem, maybe they should offer an 'Extended Life' [support] subscription and charge for it.""
Who the hell wants to be bothered with cumbersome upgrades of an operating system just to get modest and often questionable improvements? Your average consumer is basically left with the option of buying a new computer to upgrade their OS.
I'm so glad I switched to a Mac over five years ago. I'd rather not have to worry about my OS these days. Upgrades are free. Can't beat that.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
It was significantly worse on many fronts and better on some others.
Minuses:
1. Abortion of a start menu (luckily they kept the old one in the system files for most part so it could be restored with applications like classic start menu).
2. Slow and a huge memory hog, requiring at least 1GB of extra RAM for overhead than XP. Especially noticeable in games where official system requirements for 7 where almost always "XP requirements + 1GB RAM".
3. New click-based rather than old icon based system menus. It's like jury-rigging web interface into desktop with all its problems.
4. UAC being utterly retarded in spite of all the fixes. Luckily it's easily turned off or at least reconfigured to have some sanity.
Pluses:
1. DX11. Jury rigged to not support XP to sell the OS. It worked.
2. Functional 64-bit OS.
3. Improved search functionality. The only significant improvement in OS over XP in terms of usability. Some argue it replaced tree style start menu with some success. Considering the existence and wide usage of applications like classic start menu, I'd argue that it didn't.
Then you have some things that are pretty much unknown, like the supposed under hood improvements (it's pretty scary to think that 7 requires a boatload more ram and noticeably better CPU to run as well as XP even with all the supposed improvements, just how slow would it be without them?) Some also like the Aero look, though that was axed in 8.
In what sense are these people "customers"? They haven't bought a copy of Windows in six years, and let's be honest most of them never bought it in the first place. Microsoft doesn't have to care if they're mad.
Also, the reason given for their failure to switch, the disaster that was Vista, is idiotic. Windows 7 was a perfectly adequate OS -- and I say that as a Mac/Linux guy. They've had seven years to get over their grief and move on to 7, or switch to Mac or Linux.
The only reason for sticking with XP that I have any sympathy for is that your business is dependent on old hardware that doesn't support a modern OS. But once again, if your third-party vendor hasn't released a driver or software update in seven years, you're a moron for continuing to rely on them.