Windows XP diehards: Can you survive the April 2014 deadline?

FuturDreamz said:

That's what I'd do. Instead of using exploits when Microsoft will issue updates, I'd wait until they no longer support XP and then target the remaining systems that incidentally belong to either technophobes that will fall for ransomware or corporations that have a fair amount to lose.

Malware usually has a reason to be. Either gather data that someone will sell, or create hundreds/thousands of drones ready to lend a hand in that juicy DNS-denial attack, or simply to sell antimalware. The % of malware made for fun is limited.

Given these goals, it makes sense to target the largest possible userbase.

@lady fitzgerald: Quite a few big offices I've seen (100+ stations) run a crippled and locked-down kind of XP (does lack more than half of the services and stuff, among other things it lacks IE and the update services), on diskless net-booted machines, and the OS they boot into is the same identical image stored in the server.
They only work with files stored in the server(s) (and have only access to a few folders of course). When they are turned off, any change to that specific machine is lost because at reboot the machine is loaded from the same identical unchangeable virtual disk on the server. They of course don't have any contact with the outside world (because otherwise every dumb drone would be on facebook 98% of the time using a proxy/VPN).
The only up-to-date OS is the one running the server(s) and the ones in the techsupport departments (that have to use Internet to solve all pebkac-related issues that arise).
I know quite a few IT techs that don't plan to change this setup after 2014 if ever.

XP is technically run as a virtual machine from a virtual disk on a server, so the hardware only has to be able to net-boot and run the hypervisor running the show.

Yeah, I've seen some setups in the foodstuff production sector which still have Win95 machines. I doubt they're unable to migrate, to be fair it's probably some boneheaded corporate policy. When I asked them the most common answer I get is "cost", so it's not like they totally can't upgrade, someone just has to pitch it to management that not upgrading is going to cost a lot more when the inevitable happens.

Just to clarify, these "costs" are not just new OS licences, but also labor costs for the IT department (as it isn't uncommon that they will have to stay and work 24/7 until it's done, and this increases their wages) and usually far higher "lost work" costs.
I have enough experience in the field to confirm that more often than not, during the switch something unexpected happens and a bunch of offices/machinery remain in lockdown for a week while the IT staff is trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

Which is the main reason why the motto "if it ain't broken don't fix it" is so widely adopted by companies.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

bobafetthotmail said:

...@lady fitzgerald: Quite a few big offices I've seen (100+ stations) run a crippled and locked-down kind of XP (does lack more than half of the services and stuff, among other things it lacks IE and the update services), on diskless net-booted machines, and the OS they boot into is the same identical image stored in the server.
They only work with files stored in the server(s) (and have only access to a few folders of course). When they are turned off, any change to that specific machine is lost because at reboot the machine is loaded from the same identical unchangeable virtual disk on the server. They of course don't have any contact with the outside world (because otherwise every dumb drone would be on facebook 98% of the time using a proxy/VPN).
The only up-to-date OS is the one running the server(s) and the ones in the techsupport departments (that have to use Internet to solve all pebkac-related issues that arise).
I know quite a few IT techs that don't plan to change this setup after 2014 if ever.

What is going to kill them is equipment obsolescence. As their machine wear out, they will be unable to find replacements that are old enough to run XP. As I said early, I had trouble finding my last XP desktop six years ago. It will be much, much harder come next year.

I've got a couple of spare working XP boxes stored away, and the software/drivers to run them, so I'll be right for a while. I even have an old Pentium 3 running Windows 98SE, it runs but isn't used much, and never online.


Wenda.

FuturDreamz said:

Well, AMD has now dropped support. AMD Catalyst

Graphics card updates are a sick joke.
They are designed to make your performance worse to "encourage" you to buy a new card.

The last Catalyst update I tried (a few weeks ago) lowered my WEI.
I got rid of it.

It was exactly the same with my NVidia card over the preceding 3 years (each update lowered my WEI).