Microsoft Counts Down To XP Death 766
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..."
Re:Uh, unless you're a programmer... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, good thing RedHat is still supporting all their releases... Oh ... wait ... no they're not. RedHat 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 - all gone. RedHat Enterprise Linux 1, 2, 3 & 4 - all gone. Gee, maybe retiring old versions of software is just ... universal?
Re:Uh, unless you're a programmer... (Score:3, Interesting)
XP has been supported for so long because they couldn't offer anything better so their customers (read corporates) insisted on them doing so. Being unable to get Vista/7 to run on Netbooks didn't help them either.
Re:Uh, unless you're a programmer... (Score:4, Interesting)
XP is dog-eared shit. It's so long in the tooth, that it regards SATA as an exotic technology.
Try installing from a CD onto a piece of post '04 hardware. It will often refuse to recognise disks, displays, and any network devices. Unless you have slipstreamed your own installer with several of the service releases, you must resort to sneaker-net from a working machine to supply the endless list of drivers. Thank God there is working USB 2.
Without a later SP, you cannot even connect to most wireless APs. WPA2 is a blocker, and it's pull a cable, or back to shipping hundreds of megabytes on your flash drive.
Then? Prepare, once you have connectivity, for the 100-odd updates and patches. I suggest you assume 3 hours and three reboots - with a fast network.
That people and organisations continue to prefer this situation to Vista or Win7 is a complete indictment of Microsoft and their utter failure to produce real value for users since 2001.
Apple is shooting through the roof. Corporations where I would see only HP or Lenovo are 20-30 % Mac! Mind you: this means buying from a company with no significant enterprise sales division and no spec customisation for large customers.
When people leave XP? They really want to leave Microsoft. Apple would still be selling single-digit percentages, had MS not so totally and arrogantly fucked their core business.
Re:Uh, unless you're a programmer... (Score:3, Interesting)
Linux and FOSS are all well and good and may be a good choice in many areas of IT, but please cut this goddamned FUD bullshit already. Guess what? Linux and FOSS are not an end-all, cure-all for every area of computing. Get over it. XP has been around for TEN YEARS. Can you name a Linux distro version (not just distro, but a particular version of one) that has been maintained for ten years?
Activation (Score:5, Interesting)
So what's going to happen to the online activation?
Long ago when XP came out there was an issue of what happens when XP gets killed and there's no more activation. I believe Microsoft claimed that they were going to release a patch to take away the activation before killing XP, but I don't know if that's even true. And if it's not, people may be in serious trouble when their XP thinks their new harddrive requires phoning home and Microsoft refuses to answer. Forced upgrades for everyone.
Time to concentrate on programming... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Activation (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know about XP, but Microsoft released a final version of Money that did not require activation, prior to ending their support and all updates. So, historically they have done it before. Then again, there was Plays For Sure...
Re:Uh, unless you're a programmer... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Activation (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, there's so much hassle on some boxes with that activation cruft that we're currently upgrading the XP boxes to Lucid Lynx. You mean we should be buying Win7? Didn't get *that* memo, sorry; not interested now (as long as the users have their Firefox/Chrome and OpenOffice, it could be running on ENIAC for all they care).
Re:Precisely (Score:5, Interesting)
That's why I write my own OS, drivers and software. I also dug my own well in my backyard, bought a windmill-powered generator, built my own car, bake my own bread and only read stories that I wrote myself. Of course, with the latter, I usually have to wait about five years to forget the plot, but at least I know I'll like it.
Actually, I do bake my own bread, weather permitting.
I know you're joking but I've several friends who have *built* their own wind-powered generator systems (largely from instructions in MAKE magazine or Instructables) and while small generators like that certainly aren't running their whole houses, they do offset some electricity usage. Likewise, one of them has also made his own inverter for his solar panels, so he can back-drive into the grid (which seems like a Very Bad Idea, but hey he's the one with the master's degree in electrical engineering, not me.)
I was in a car crash a couple years ago and have serious memory problems. Back when my brain worked better I used to write a lot of short fiction, and guess what? I do reread my old stuff with no clear idea of how it's going to end. Le sigh. So your joke is all too real.
Re:Uh, unless you're a programmer... (Score:4, Interesting)
OK, let's be realistic:
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=custom+linux+kernel+development+services&aq=f&aqi=g-v6g-j1g-b2&aql=&oq=#q=custom+linux+development+services&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&bih=632&biw=1012&fp=560fefca0938c389&hl=en [google.com]
I bet you could find that one of these companies would be willing to help you with your RedHat 2 problems, for the right price. I also bet that it would be several orders of magnitude less than it would cost you to convince Microsoft to fix bugs in Windows 95, especially the pre-service pack 1 version that was contemporary with RedHat 2. You need to face up, it is not possible for the typical business, for any amount of money, to get fixes to old versions of Microsoft software, while it is possible, both in theory and in practice, to get fixes to old versions of most open-source software.