Poll: April 8 is D-Day For Windows XP, What Will You Do?

[chilkoot]

My last work laptop ran XP. Somebody needs to ask if I care whether it has to be upgraded.

The home laptop still runs Vista. Still works fine.

Still have 95 on floppy disks somewhere.

 

[meierlde]

My last work laptop ran XP. Somebody needs to ask if I care whether it has to be upgraded.

The home laptop still runs Vista. Still works fine.

Still have 95 on floppy disks somewhere.

If you still have windows 3.11 programs there is a program called dosbox that creates a virtual machine running dos. In it you can run WFW 3.11 for example, and apps of that period.

 

[bUU]

Microsoft actually provides far longer support for old versions than practically anyone else. XP is over twelve years old, while Mac OS's 2007 release, Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), was desupported over a year ago.

And that's not just OSs: Microsoft just recently terminated support for IE6, and will support IE7 for another few years, while Chrome and Firefox and the rest support their current version and perhaps their immediate previous version and that's it.

 

[eytonxav]

My XP desktop is over 7 years old, and I'm still torn on whether to go with a Mac or Windows laptop as a replacement, but I don't know whether the cutoff date will be that important to push me to move to make a change.

 

[Al in Ohio]

Windows XP was the last windows based OS I used on my home PCs. Now we are a MAC house so. .....


No worries here!

 

[Eagle43]

My ancient xp desktop just crashed. It won't reboot, even in safe mode, nor will it load a disc. Probably a virus. I guess I,could call a tech just so I can retrieve some photos and one spreadsheet. After that, bye bye. It was a good product, but it's time for a new one.

 

[NanoSour]

I run WinXP through Parallels 7 on my mac for one reason only…ESPlanner. Had to forego Mavericks as it would cost me $49 to upgrade to Parallels 9 so I would have continued access to ESP.

Sticking with XP. Change is hard and expensive.

 

[NW-Bound]

Six of our desktops/notebooks already run Win 7. I still have a couple of machines running XP for old work software (both commercial and self-written).

A year ago, I even had to re-install WinNT4.0 on a machine to resurrect an old application program I stopped using 10 years ago to look at some data. The mode compatibility in XP and Win 7 did not work for some reasons. Do I miss updates? If the machine is off-line and cannot get infected by new virus, why do I care? If it works, I prefer it be left alone. MS used to break things with its updates. Don't get me started on this.

 

[bUU]

I don't see anything wrong with sticking with something that works for you. Just don't get the impression that anyone else should necessary accommodate your thrift. Software is deliberately made to be updated (otherwise it would be circuitry) and we're still in the first century of computer technology, meaning that no one is going to be able to afford to provide substantial software products that will work on all of today's myriad platforms, as well as every previous version of every current and previous platform. My company is very concerned about not alienating customers, but our product's next version will be limited to customers willing to upgrade to IE11 (and there is no IE11 for XP) and the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Opera. That already represents enough cost, for each release, such that we don't make profit on maintenance contracts. And every year services you may want to use will revisit their minimum requirements. For example, right now, TD Ameritrade requires IE8 or later if you're going to use IE. That'll change to IE9 over the next year or two, rest assured (and there is no IE9 for XP, either). Kinderhook Bank (for example) already requires IE9 (and therefore excludes folks running XP).

 

[RE2Boys]

I keep whatever operating system came with the machine so never "upgrade". Just occasionally upgrade the whole computer system. In the house now:

Windows 98 that hasn't been turned on in years.
Three XP machines, all which get used occasionally for special purposes. One is my wife's photo scanning set-up downstairs. Another is my fax machine and Netflix device for when I use the stationary bike, the third is the boys computer that's getting less & less use.
One Vista laptop that is used daily as a remote terminal and travel.
One Win 7 machine that is the family workhorse.

 

[ls99]

I have a few install disks of win95 and some win 3.11. Just in case. Some Dos 3.0 copies as well.

 

[Ready]

I have a few install disks of win95 and some win 3.11. Just in case. Some Dos 3.0 copies as well.

Would those be on 5.25" "floppy" disks?

 

[easysurfer]

April 8th is about a month away, but I'm several steps closer to retiring Win XP.

Got a used desktop with Win 7 for home and been fixing that up (with the settings I want, and hardware upgrades). If all goes well, should be done by the weekend.

For my old, underpowered, laptop I installed Puppy Linux (I'll use the laptop mostly for surfing the web when I travel).

 

[Major Tom]

Yes, XP was a good and stable OS. It served me well for quite a few years. I upgraded from XP to 8.1 a couple of months ago with not much trouble, and have found it easy to navigate. I understand that 8 was a bit of a head-scratcher so am glad to have missed that.

 

[Chuckanut]

One theory is that the bad guys are waiting in the wings for April 9 so they can unleash their software exploits, knowing MS won't fix the security holes.

 

[easysurfer]

One theory is that the bad guys are waiting in the wings for April 9 so they can unleash their software exploits, knowing MS won't fix the security holes.

My understanding is that about 95% of the ATM machines are on XP

 

[sengsational]

One theory is that the bad guys are waiting in the wings for April 9 so they can unleash their software exploits, knowing MS won't fix the security holes.

Even if they don't have any exploits in their pockets, on May 13, Microsoft will announce faults in other Windows OS's that are also in WinXP, in essence leading the bad guys to a whole list of XP's faults that will not be patched.

 

[bUU]

Organizations (and people) have to start taking responsibility for keeping their computing resources up to date. I know people don't want to acknowledge that as their responsibility, and I know that people don't want to acknowledge that when they buy software they're buying something that will be supported for only a limited time, but there is no defense for refusing to admit the reality.

 

[6miths]

Switched to Macs a few years ago. Never looked back!

 

[ERD50]

Switched to Macs a few years ago. Never looked back!

Is Apple doing security updates all the way back to the early OSX versions (IMO 10.3 was the first actual public release, 1 & 2 should count as betas)? I really don't know.

UPDATE - a search says:

As of July 23, 2012, the Software Update feature of Mac OS X v10.3 and earlier is no longer available, but you can manually download any updates that are still available.

Hmmm, as much as it pains me to credit MS in any way, it seems that they are supporting XP (2001-2014) far longer than Apple supported 10.3 (2003-2012).


My Linux 12.04 release (that is April 2012) is an LTS (Long Term Support) version that is supported out to Q3 -2017. Later this year I'll probably upgrade to 14.04 (or just buy a new machine and install fresh), which is another LTS. That will take me out to Q3 2019.

The world will be a different place by then!

I might keep those old Linux versions active even after they don't get security updates, but they'll be stripped of any personal data of any importance, and probably won't even go on the web that much. I'll use them as music servers or for other 'internal' stuff.


-ERD50

 

[bUU]

Is Apple doing security updates all the way back to the early OSX versions (IMO 10.3 was the first actual public release, 1 & 2 should count as betas)? I really don't know.

Microsoft's policy is 10 years, and for XP they've made an exception extending that to 13 years. Apple's policy is 5 years. Lots of people like to tout their preference for Apple over Microsoft without realizing that Microsoft provides better substantive support. Apple's forte is provision of better tenor of support. They work to make their customers feel better about their purchases as compared to Microsoft, especially early on. But when push comes to shove, with Apple, their answer is much more quickly to have customers spend more money.

 

[Indigo Mule]

I have an ancient computerized embroidery sewing machine which needs both the Win95 laptop and the XP laptop to make and edit stitches and patterns. I have neutered the computers and do not connect to the Internet. Other than those, my spouse finally lured me to the Mac side, with a whisper quiet Macbook Air.

 

[easysurfer]

I just got a reminder pop up on my XP computer suggesting I get Win 8.1.

Support is ending for Windows XP - Microsoft Windows

Hmm....just round the time of daylight savings time. Coincidence or planned?

 

[veremchuka]

Original Vista support expired 2010
Service pack 2 expired Apr. 2012 (mainstream support)
Extended support expires Apr 2017

I don't understand your post. I have Vista Home Premium and I get antivirus and Windows updates regularly.

 

[MRG]

My understanding is that about 95% of the ATM machines are on XP

Well most ATM ran OS/2 for a decade after offical vedor support ceased. That vendor provided support for that unsupported OS, at a very profitable margin.

If the ATMs are now XP based, I'm sure Microsoft will be happy to provide support, at a very profitable rate.

Most individuals couldn't afford to pay those fees.

I'm running 7, glad to find out folks running 8.1 are having a better user experience.
MRG