Windows XP - End of Life - a bit like W2K bug that never happened

Hi there
I'm surprised at all the Windows XP end of life hysteria -- probably done by the same bovine set of bozos who thought Cars would stop running and most computer applications would fail on Jan 1 2000 (the so called Y2K problem - probably the biggest non event in the entire history of computing).

On Apr 9 your Windows XP machine will still run just fine (and on apr 10 too etc).

Simply VIRTUALIZE it and only use Internet from say a W7 desktop. Modern hardware will run Virtual machines at almost Native speed and unless you are into heavy gaming / graphics then VM machines will certainly work for you --they've come a HUGE way in the last few years.

With Unity features common XP corporate applications can easily be placed on a W7 desktop so the user just has to "point and click".

I can't understand what all the corporate brouha is about - unless it's just a few consultants trying to cash in on a few bucks while the going is good.

I said the same in 2000 about the Y2K stuff -- all those expensive consultants at 1000 - 2000 USD a day BACK THEN were all sitting around doing not much except drinking in Local Taverns and laughing all the way to the Bank. !!

While I.T wages have slumped in the last 15 years (seems the only profession I know where that's happened) the same scenario in principle although slightly less booze being consumed in the taverns is being enacted by the "Consultancy Firms" who advise on how to migrate off XP.

Reminds you of "Deja -vu or Ground hog day" all over again)

Wish I could have got into the act (both then and now !! although I'd want the wages they were getting back then. ).


Cheers
jimbo

I don't buy into the XP end-of-life "crisis".

But don't ever think Y2K was trivial. It was a major threat, one that was fixed before it could blow up. I was there, fixing a piece of it. So were many thousands of other people.

Real life story:

Around mid March of this year I tried to reinstall my OEM copy of XP for the 5th time. It would install and I could register it, but I could not do the updates including SP3. Also IE8 would not work--I always got an "Error has occurred and IE must shut down" box pop up. So, I called MS for the first time in my life. I talked with a girl in the Philippines who was very nice. After I gave her my key code, she said that MS was only going to allow me to install my OEM XP copy 4 times. I would have to pay $40 to get a new key code that would allow me to register it again and do the updates. This was the same computer--some motherboard and processor and memory. I think I added an extra hard drive and optical drive, but that wasn't the issue. After being on the phone with her about 30 minutes, I politely declined.

So, what is the real deal here? Everybody says you can reinstall your OEM builder system copy as many times as you want on the same computer. That wasn't true for me. Is 4 times all you can do it, or was MS trying to push me towards Windows 7? I may never know. But even though XP is a great operating system, I'm glad I upgraded now. I only upgrade operating systems about once every 8 years. I'm still using a 1990 DOS address book program called "Address Book Plus".

BTW, there was a Y2K problem with Microsoft Word 5.0 for DOS. It was in a function called "Summary Sheet". MS could have easily fixed this and put out a fix over the internet. But, they wanted to push everybody off of any DOS based programs. I paid $230 for it in 1990 dollars, but MS being who they are, they didn't care how much I paid it. They didn't want anybody to use it anymore.