A last reprieve for the enduring Windows XP?

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	TOP STORY A last reprieve for the enduring Windows XP?
	By Woody Leonhard By now, every Windows XP user and his third cousin should know that on April 8, the clock runs out on the venerable OS. But recent developments might give XP users a bit of a reprieve. When and how Microsoft will blink are the open questions.

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The full text of this column is posted at windowssecrets.com/top-story/a-last-reprieve-for-the-enduring-windows-xp/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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Doesn’t surprise one bit.
Sounds more like Microsoft “huffing and puffing” (threatening XP users), while XP users “continue using”, and the users clearly aren’t exactly loosing (due to their continued market share).
Give them (MS) more time, I’m sure they’ll relent on MSE too, in degrees.

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Good article and great suggestions for Microsoft. I would gladly pay to have continued XP support, but not $200 per year.

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i am still running TWO win98SE machines
and plan to keep running 3-4 winxpprosp3 machines for even longer

you really dont need ms support at this point in time
the problems are known
the fixes are documented

had to buy a cheap win8 laptop to run some of the newer software and as a backup to our email system
that was down for a week but is now improved, enhanced, and ready to go even longer with a new BIG harddisk

but not disturbing any system that is paid for, runs well, and has my data and aps on it
just so i can start paying monthly rental for software that wont let me keep my data locally without a hassle

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Windows XP was a great OS despite some flaws but it’s time to move on and put it out to pasture. The large FI I work for with 75,000 employees will continue to run it for several more months. I think we have a special support package. I personally made the switch to Windows 7 a year ago and love it. MS should stop using the paddles and let XP die a natural death.

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I work for a large manufacturing facility. I think it’s important to remember how many businesses have spent large sums of money on custom software that will not run on Windows 7, so we’re forced to keep Windows XP, in physical and virtual computers. Some of this software cannot be updated because the company’s no longer exist. To scrap the old software and move to something new is cost prohibitive. Like it or not, XP is going to be around for some time.

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I am (supposedly) an IT Pro, and have a small computer repair business. As much as I love XP Pro, and like Win7, about 2 1/2 years ago I decided to go with Linux. I am using Linux Mint13, MATE desktop; dual booting with Win7 on a couple of machines, and XP Pro on two others. It is very rare for me to have to boot up into Windows. Linux is all FREE-the OS’s, and the programs. As you can download a Linux OS, burn it to a CD, and then boot from that “Live CD”, you can see what it’s like without installing it, or “messing up” your computer. Try it, you’ll like it.

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Linux is the best alternative. Find some open source programmer to adapt any XP only programs to Linux. Apache provides better server support. I am surprised the number crunchers in big companies have not figured out that what they will spend on open source support teams is still cheaper than what they spend on Windows.

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I am surprised the number crunchers in big companies have not figured out that what they will spend on open source support teams is still cheaper than what they spend on Windows.

Maybe that’s because it isn’t…

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Ya, but how well does Linux run Photoshop, PSPX5, Crysis 2 and 3, The latest Tomb Raider and Call of Duty, Microsoft Office, NeroVideo 12, and on and on in category after category? Facsimiles that are more difficult to use or not as good not allowed and cross-platform…well, there just aren’t enough.
As a background OS supporting apps and servers, terrific! However, there are a plethora of very sound reasons as to why FREE in this case is not a magic word in the world of first layer consumer OSes.

That’s why I can’t make the switch completely over to Win 7 from XP; Win 7 and 8 might be better OSes than XP and one might even say the same about Linux or at least some distros. However I cannot find a better platform to run all my production [and very enjoyable time-waster] programs on.

That said, go away Microsoft! I don’t think they should linger with support anymore, at this point it almost seems vindictive to keep raking them over the coals for finally trying to go cold turkey on XP in light of updates being the least important, tertiary or quateranary layer of security. If they were anywhere near as important as a hardware firewall, sound user practices and a competent antivirus layer for those hopefully ever so infrequent user lapses; well, then it would be a completely different matter to leave ~400 million users in a state of sudden update detox.

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Instead of Photoshop try GIMP. Instead of Office try Libre Office. Usually a Linux based program can save in a format Windows will understand. OK games can only be played in Windows but search around and alternative online games can be found. For most programs an alternative open source Linux based program can be found or built.

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Instead of Office try Libre Office. Usually a Linux based program can save in a format Windows will understand.

The issue isn’t really about ‘understanding’ file formats, but about handling content. The fact is these alternatives don’t handle Office files very well at all, which means any business user moving to Linux could face significant hurdles; (a) converting their files & data to something that will work; and (b) collaborating with others who do use Office. How many Access databases, Excel workbooks and complex Word documents retain their full functionality and layouts when converted? Few. For an example of what happens, download any of the tutorials I’ve posted in the Word forum here and see how much of their content survives. What doesn’t survive represents data loss; how many businesses will wear those costs lightly. Try running the many macros that have been posted and see how far you get.

I’ve been through the process going from incompatible one IT system to another and I’ve seen first-hand how much can be lost due to a lack of transferability…

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Interesting article. It’s nice to see I’m not the only one reluctant to move on (although my primary machine has Win 7).

My biggest worry is what is compatible with my machines. I have a collection (6) of laptops and desktops that have sort of been retired because of speed and XP. I’d like to put them to use, like a receiver of streaming music to feed into my tuner or an electronic cookbook in the kitchen. Simple tasks for old hardware. But will Win 7Pro or Home not work, or Linux flavor A, B or C run, or not. I don’t want to spend all of my spare time fussing with it. I’m fairly technically savvy, but I don’t know what I don’t know. Is there a tiny app that can say “Your hardware should be able to run this, this and this. It cannot run this, this and this because of hardware limitations.” No 500-page dissertation, just a short paragraph or so pointing me away from unworkable upgrades.

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Thanks for the update on my favorite OS. With a newer computer I am forced to use Windows 8, but I would have gladly continued using XP forever!

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I think Woody’s dead wrong about this. I don’t believe Microsoft has backpedaled AT ALL, and I don’t think there’s any chance that it will “soften its XP end-of-life stance” in the remaining 8 weeks.

Malicious Software Removal Tool updates will protect the 80% who have moved on, not the 20% who are holding on.

“So as far as I’m concerned, XP hit the bit bucket only when Windows 7 shipped in July 2009.
That makes XP, by my admittedly jaundiced reckoning, a sprightly four and a half years old!”
No, four and a half years OBSOLETE. (By the same reasoning I could kid myself that my car is only a couple of years old, when in fact it’s more than 10.)

Bruce

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I have an Acer netbook that I bought right before they switched from XP to Win7. It is not hardware compatible to upgrade, and I use it in a machine shop to control devices (a label printer and a CNC router) that don’t have Windows 7 compatible drivers. This is on a network so I can transfer CAM files from the main desktop. It was my understanding that MS would be supporting the version of XP on these netbooks longer than on other systems, as these were tailored specifically for these little niche machines. I’ve heard nothing about that concerning end-of-life for XP. If Microsoft expects me to toss out a nifty computer that fits my shop (goes into a tool cabinet drawer quite nicely), maybe they could also send $$$$ to upgrade all my CNC machinery as well.

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Good article, though I would like to point up one thing.

Your statement “Windows 7 and 8x offer enhanced security and better compatibility with modern software and peripherals” unfortunately misses the point WHY people may still be using XP – that it runs older software and peripherals that W7/8 never will.

My main Music Studio PC has a large and expensive sound card that has drivers for XP, not W7/8. I don’t want to throw away £700 worth of quality sound i/o and have to spend another £700 for virtually the same thing. I suspect the difference between XP and 7 in this drivers’ particular context is minimal, maybe just a small registry change that has completely crippled the driver installation, but who knows?

Also in the Music PC are thousands of pounds worth of Virtual Instruments (software synths etc.) and Plugins (reverbs, echoes and other sound toys) which I equally have no desire to replace.

On the hardware side, I already have a perfectly good printer and scanner, not very old, that do not have drivers for W7/8 and probably never will. The bugbear here is that I haven’t found a way to access them over a network from a W7/8 machine, as the drivers for W7/8 are required – another dead end, thanks Microsoft!

So there you have it, a combination of software, hardware, and Microsoft continually moving the Driver goal-posts, and expecting companies to deploy teams of coders to reinvent the wheel again – I mean rewriting drivers. Why does MS not provide a layer of backward compatibility for printers and scanners?

These are why so many people will stick with their trusty and reliable XP for a good time yet.

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I can’t see how can someone (like me) move to newer OS with older computer.

Not everyone shops in US$ 🙂

In our currency new PC is not so cheap (add atleast two zeros in prices). So I stick with the XP which came pre-installed on my laptop.

So, although I love to use Windows 7, with a couple of year’s admiration on one of the office PCs, but…

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I can’t see how can someone (like me) move to newer OS with older computer.

Not everyone shops in US$ 🙂

In our currency new PC is not so cheap (add atleast two zeros in prices). So I stick with the XP which came pre-installed on my laptop.

So, although I love to use Windows 7, with a couple of year’s admiration on one of the office PCs, but…

mks:

If your laptop has at least 2 GB of RAM, and if the hard drive is at least 100 GB in size, you can probably install Windows 7 (or even Windows 8) on it.

I suggest that you do a complete backup of your laptop, and then install Windows 7. It will probably work just fine. And if it doesn’t, all you need to do is restore the backup that you made.

Jim

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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It would be nice if Microsoft offered an inexpensive way for XP users to keep getting XP support, but I also think that is not likely to happen. I recently “upgraded” my primary computer to a new one with Windows 7 Home Premium after Microsoft announced EOL support for XP. My XP Home machine was about 8 years old, so I was in need of a more powerful computer. I also got Office 2013 as a replacement for my old Office 2003. I do not like Windows 7, but did not want Windows 8, as I am mainly a desktop user. I also intensely dislike Office 2013! My old XP machine will be handed down to my infrequent-user wife to replace a 12-1/2 year old Windows 2000 Pro machine. I love Windows XP and do not think Microsoft has done me any favors by rolling out Windows 7 and Windows 8.

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My Windows XP Pro machine is 3 years old. I got it to replace an existing WinXP machine that was about 7 years old. When I got my Windows XP machine I did not want Windows 7, I loved WinXP and knew my way around it pretty much and was “comfortable” with it. Plus I had an old scanner that had been with me since Win95 and did not want to replace it. I was uncertain whether my old HP and Epson printer would even have drivers for Windows 7, so I stuck with what I knew and got Windows XP Pro while I could still get one.

Fast forward 3 years and I was helping a friend price out a new laptop. In my looking around at what was available for her I was also checking on desktops for me as I knew the end of life on XP was coming and I don’t trust what Micro$oft may or may not do to the existing XP operating systems, so I ordered one of Woody’s Windows 7 for Dummies books and read up on Windows 7 and was pleasantly surprised that it was not the horror story I had envisioned in my brain, but was very similar to what I was already use to using.

So I checked online for the drivers for my printers, found them and just accepted that my scanner would not be coming along for the ride this time. So I bit the bullet in December and ordered at the time what was the only Dell configuration I could get with Windows 7 on it. Made my check list of all of the programs I would need to buy because some of my software would not run on Windows 7 either and bought that. So when my desktop got here, it took me about 2 days to get the computer set up, installed everything and copied over all of my files and other programs and I was good to go. I just had to learn to live within the parameters of where I could put things and learn that some folders are locked for a reason and not used by the user. Once I accepted that fact my life with Win7 has been better.

My 3 year old Windows XP pro machine is sitting on the floor under my desk and is still where I can boot it up if I need to get to anything that is on it. My now 8 year old Windows XP machine is sitting on the floor across the office in case I ever need to I can still boot that one up as well.

I hate change and I hate installing software. As long as what I have works, I see no need to monkey around with it too much. I do Windows updates now only after they have been proven to be ok to install. The other good thing that came out of this was I did get a new scanner that will scan slides and negatives, so now I can get about scanning some old slides that my dad took while I was growing up and get them on a cd!

As for Windows 8, don’t even get me started on that one. I am just glad that Windows 7 is going to be supported for several years to come 😉

Thanks to everyone here for all of the threads and articles that I have been reading since joining. Some of the conversations are still over my head a bit, but I am trying to learn and understand.

Pam

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I had an old scanner that had been with me since Win95 and did not want to replace it…

So I checked online for the drivers for my printers, found them and just accepted that my scanner would not be coming along for the ride this time.

FWIW, I’m still running Win 7 with an ancient Canon 650U scanner. It too has no Win 7 drivers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t workarounds…

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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MS has pulled a second bad rabbit out of their bag of stinking tricks. When buying a new laptop, I discover MS will not allow vendors to sell Windows7 although Windows7 has full maintenance. You also can’t buy a laptop without an OS!

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MS has pulled a second bad rabbit out of their bag of stinking tricks. When buying a new laptop, I discover MS will not allow vendors to sell Windows7 although Windows7 has full maintenance.

So, if you went out to buy a new car, I suppose you’d expect the manufacturer to still sell last year’s model just because the cars they sold last year are still under warranty???

If you really want it, there are still plenty of vendors retailing Windows 7 new. Check out ebay, for example.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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MS has pulled a second bad rabbit out of their bag of stinking tricks. When buying a new laptop, I discover MS will not allow vendors to sell Windows7 although Windows7 has full maintenance. You also can’t buy a laptop without an OS!

That is absolutely not true about the OEMs. They can sell Windows 7 until at least October 2014. Many have models available with Windows 7 but the choices are limited.

Joe

--Joe

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MS has pulled a second bad rabbit out of their bag of stinking tricks. When buying a new laptop, I discover MS will not allow vendors to sell Windows7 although Windows7 has full maintenance. You also can’t buy a laptop without an OS!

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I will be staying with Xp as I only spend about 10 hours per week on the computer..a 10yr old generic breed, and can’t justify the expense of upgrading the computer,and accessories. I have used windows offline downloader to download all the latest updates, used nlite to integrate them into XP Pro CD. Will probably download the next round early in April and do the same thing. All my docs, music and photos are stored on an external hdd. The only things on my internal drive are Xp and my programs. I won’t be using XP for the internet when support ceases. I disconnected hdd ,inserted another one and installed Ubuntu on it. I then bought a rackmount system with two slide-in slide out trays,($40au), and fitted the hdds to them. Depending on whether I want to write docs, or go on the net, it is simply a matter of swapping trays.

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