RIP Windows XP

[Anakin Flair 0]

From seattlepi.com

 

Software Notebook: Windows XP begins its long goodbye

By TODD BISHOP

P-I REPORTER

 

BARRING A LAST-MINUTE reprieve, Windows XP will start to fade away this week, when Microsoft stops selling the seven-year-old operating system to retailers and major PC makers.

 

It's the moment Galen Gruman hoped wouldn't arrive.

 

Gruman, an executive editor at the InfoWorld online tech site in San Francisco, is one of the leaders of a movement seeking to save Windows XP from extinction. Under different circumstances, a company might welcome such an expression of devotion.

 

But in this case, the initiative isn't as much an endorsement of Windows XP as it is a comment on XP's successor. Windows Vista, released last year, has been negatively received by some PC users because of its early technical problems and steeper hardware requirements.

 

"I think the issue is that it's not meaningfully better than XP," Gruman said last week. Improvements in areas such as security aren't enough to justify the inconveniences, he said. InfoWorld's "Save XP" online petition has collected more than 200,000 virtual signatures.

 

Microsoft previously gave XP a five-month reprieve, but it has made it clear that it's sticking to the Monday cutoff. The company says it wants to keep moving PC users and businesses to Windows Vista as the new standard, in part so that the industry can focus on making software and devices more compatible with Vista and its new security approach.

 

The cutoff means it will become tougher to get a new computer with Windows XP -- but not impossible, by any means. Although Microsoft will stop selling XP to retailers and major PC makers, it plans to continue selling the operating system through some channels.

 

For example, smaller companies that make custom PCs from scratch, commonly known as system builders, will be able to continue buying Windows XP through Jan. 31. And for two years, at least, the company also will continue to offer selected versions of Windows XP for "ultra low-cost" computers, such as the Asus Eee PC and Intel Classmate PC, that lack the advanced hardware needed to run Windows Vista.

 

In addition, buyers of Windows Vista Business or Ultimate editions will be able to take advantage of what are known as "downgrade rights." In some cases, for example, people will be able buy Windows Vista but get it on a disc for later use, and have Windows XP Professional pre-installed on the PC instead.

 

Downgrade rights are offered through Microsoft's volume licensing program for businesses. Some PC makers, such as Dell, also are giving customers that option.

 

Microsoft says it plans to offer various levels of product support for Windows XP, including security updates, through April 2014.

 

Bill Veghte, a Microsoft senior vice president, outlined those continuing options for Windows XP but also defended Windows Vista in a letter to customers last week.

 

"The architectural changes that improved security and resilience in Windows Vista led to compatibility issues with existing hardware and applications," Veghte acknowledged in the letter. "Many hardware drivers and applications needed to be updated, and while the majority worked well when we launched Windows Vista, some key applications and drivers were not yet available."

 

However, he added, "Since then, Microsoft and its industry partners have been hard at work to address compatibility issues, and now the situation is fundamentally different."

 

All things considered, Windows Vista is "actually a pretty good operating system," said Michael Gartenberg, a Jupiter Research analyst. Microsoft has cited significant sales volume. However, Vista isn't good enough to make people and businesses feel strongly compelled to upgrade.

 

"It certainly hasn't captured anyone's hearts and imaginations," Gartenberg said.

 

Given the complications of moving to Windows Vista, more companies may start considering it a reasonable option to move to Apple computers, particularly if Apple adds more features to its Mac OS X operating system tailored to businesses, Gartenberg said.

 

The end of mainstream Windows XP sales happens to coincide with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' departure from day-to-day duties at the company. In that way, Gates might be leaving "on the expiration of the last real major desktop operating success for Microsoft," Gartenberg said, adding that one of the major challenges for CEO Steve Ballmer will be to restore the luster to the Windows brand.

 

First, Ballmer will be getting a little something in the mail. As of last week, InfoWorld's Gruman was planning to print out the Save XP petition and signatures for delivery to Ballmer's office Monday.

 

"Maybe the big stack of paper will drive it home," Gruman said.

 

I have Vista and I hate it. It came preloaded onto my new laptop, which really doesn't come with the hardware to run it properly. And I get contant Com Surrogate errors that I'm not sure what's causing it. At least we can still get XP from bit torrent...

 

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Seems Microsoft refuses to admit defeat with Vista.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I had Vista too and felt that it was too bloated. I didn't like the security pop ups, which I disabled. I am not Linux user or pusher but Linux could start showing up on more computers or there could be more Macs in the office.

 

Microsoft won't give up on Vista because of all of the resources spent on it.

[Timmy8271 0]

I like Vista. I've had it for a year and haven't had many problems with it. When I had XP, I had nothing but problems with it. Once you get use to it, Vista's not that bad. And God knows it's better than Linux.

[Anakin Flair 0]

I'm sure Vista's fine on a computer that can truly handle it- but it shouldn't have come pre=loaded onto laptops period. Most just can't handle it.

[Ketamine Disaster 0]

This is the same thing that they did when they pulled support for 98 shortly after XP came out. Gotta strangle the market and whatnot.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I like Vista. I've had it for a year and haven't had many problems with it. When I had XP, I had nothing but problems with it. Once you get use to it, Vista's not that bad. And God knows it's better than Linux.

 

Man, you are one dumb fucking bastard. Vista better than Ubuntu (or any variations thereof)? You're out of your fucking mind.

 

I have a copy of XP Home at, well, home, but I've heard that I might run into some problems activating my copy of XP as "genuine" when I get a new hard drive and move it on there because it might detect the system settings as different or some shit. I'm running a dual-boot right now with Ubuntu and XP, but I'd say I use Ubuntu about 90% of the time, and XP only gets some play when I run something there like games or heavy video/graphics editing that might run okay through Wine or VMWare, but of course run much better in native XP.

 

I really hate the long boot times, the ridiculous errors and crashes, it's awful. Vista is a huge step down, but hey I prefer any of these to OSX, any version.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

I'm sure Vista's fine on a computer that can truly handle it- but it shouldn't have come pre=loaded onto laptops period. Most just can't handle it.

 

Agreed. Vista isn't that bad on a machine that can actually handle it, but when you look at all these laptops with about 512 RAM and a shitty, low end processor you know you are only asking for trouble.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I like Vista just fine. The security pop ups are lame, but otherwise I've had it a year with no troubles

[At Home 0]

MAC OS X

~ NO VISTA

[Mik 0]

You guys only have a few years to wait until Windows 7.0 comes out anyway. Then none of this matters.

[Kristianna 0]

We still use XP at my house, I suppose because it works just fine. My computer at work still uses Windows 2000, I think mostly because the IT guy likes it.

 

I've been tempted to buy Vista, and I've been told since my home compy is a quad-core, I should probably get the 64-bit version. I really don't know that much about operating systems myself. So, is that true at all?

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Yes.

 

 

I never understood why they shipped the 32 bit version of Windows with dual core processors.

 

I've just started to notice that more and more people are shipping the 64 bit versions with their dual core processor laptops.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Vista's been fine on my laptop. I go from Vista at home to XP at work, and honestly, they've already blurred together, i might as well be using the same damn OS.