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

[jimbo45]

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

 

[strollin]

MS itself is playing up the XP end of life hysteria in attempt to move people off of XP. Not all the credit can be given to the "sky is falling" individuals.

 

[essenbe]

Jimbo, I agree with Strollin. I think it is more of MSFT's doing. They are pushing Windows 8 as hard as possible. What really made me think of it was about 2 weeks ago, I reinstalled a TechNet Windows 7 (short lived as TechNet is). It failed an online activation and I had to activate by phone. I also reinstalled a TechNet windows 8 and it activated online easily. That sort of told me a lot.

 

[margrave]

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.

 

[carwiz]

Ditto on the "I was there". We started reviewing programs in the 90s for Y2K to make sure they could handle the date correctly. Many mainframe programs back then used a 2-digit year. It was a HUGE mess changing programs and record formats. The threat was real and involved thousands of programs at the site I worked at the time. And since most of the programs were run sequentially and shared data bases, you couldn't implement one at time. The test process alone took several years. I was there on 12-31-99 when we shutdown to install the new software. Then spent the next week on 24-hour call duty.

It went smooth because we were prepared.

 

[AddRAM]

Ya, I don`t think anyone really cares about XP fading out. So many business`s have already switched to W7

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

 

[AddRAM]

Cute

 

[Endzone]

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.

 

[whs]

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

It will be a Microsoft End of Life crisis if they don't come to their senses. There is only so much jerking that customers will put up with.

My goverment is already warning people not to use 8.1. It even made the 8 o'clock evening news on the national TV. And once the EU get's into the act, then they are really in deep yogurt.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Just an addition here

MSE (Microsoft Security essentials) which works on XP as well as W7 is supplying security updates until MAY 2015 -- this will give partial protection for XP systems -- it won't detect Viruses ONLY geared for XP but will update any threat tyo W7 or common to both W7 and XP. -- In any case if I were a Hacker why would I bother with people who are too mean to upgrade their systems !! -- I'd go for the "assumed" richer pickings of folk who can afford to spend money on buying the "latest and greatest".

Don't forget also that Office 2007 / 2010 will get support UNTIL around 2020 !!!.

But it makes sense to only run what you absolutely have to on XP then you shouldn't need to care about security at all - run XP as an isolated VM and if you need to copy data to it use a dedicated USB stick that you wipe clean after you've copied the stuff to the XP machine. You can add the device dynamically in the VM settings so the VM can be isolated from your network.

(Y2K might have had some mainframe issues - but the big money was on people like SAP consultants doing this sort of stuff on server - client type systems where the issue really was a bit trivial -- the bigger issue by far was the EURO conversion around that time).
Cheers
jimbo

 

[Ranger4]

There does seem to be the usual resistance to change being shown in this thread. Surely we must realise that all things need to be changed or updated. I really don't think MS has been unreasonable as it has given adequate warning that XP is coming to the end of being supported.
How many people are still using old black & white TV's, or analogue TV's?. Most people now use battery powered clocks rather that the older wind up ones. So over time we have to move to later technology whether we like it or not. Complaining bitterly about might ease your temper but won't stop progress.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
I love old antique clocks so your clock analogy doesn't quite hold up. Remember though there are things that cannot simply be updated at a stroke - especially if the applications are quite niche.

I gave the example of cutting Vinyl -- although digital music has largely superceeded Viny there's still a surprising demand for it and my hardware will ONLY run on XP -- it's far too expensive to get new hardware for what is a niche business.

In any case the whole idea of VM's was to be able to run legacy systems although using them for testing new releases of software and OS'es is also important.

I'm certainly not complaining -- I'm merely suggesting that it's perfectly safe and quite reasonable to continue to use XP long after official support ends and it can be done quite safely too.

It's not resistance to change - but change simply for changes sake - especially when it doesn't actually buy a lot of convenience that I was objecting to.

Horses and Bycycles haven't replaced cars -- people still ride horses and bikes -- but of course they use cars too --same with the OS'es -- use whatever does the job decently and cheaply.

Technology sometimes goes too far -- look at some of the HIDEOUS minimalist apartments in London's Financial district that sell at around 1 MILLION GBP !!! each for about the size of a shoebox and look like you are living in a Hi-tech studio without a decent "slouchable" couch to sit on in sight. !!

give me an old fashioned dwelling with loads of REAL wood around the place, homely furniture and a bit of ground where I can grow things and let the dog run around and bark as much as it likes.

Technology should be OUR servant - not the other way around - for example medical science etc. I'm always willing to use new technology but not just for it's own sake. Finally TV's are a good example of sensible upgrades - getting rid of old energy greedy TV's with totally dangerous products like the lead glass screens and CRT's and replacing them with the modern one's - fine.

Same with LED's for lighting - especially now the new one's can be a bit more warm coloured - and although made from "Rare Earth's" - these materials are actually neither "Earth" nor particularly rare.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...In any case if I were a Hacker why would I bother with people who are too mean to upgrade their systems !!...

Because there will be so many of them (getting small amounts from a large number of people can be just as lucrative as getting large amounts from a few)? Because if they weren't bright enough to upgrade, they will be easier targets? ATMs still on XP are already being attacked.

...Don't forget also that Office 2007 / 2010 will get support UNTIL around 2020 !!!...

Office 2007 will only get support until 2017. That was the reason I upgraded to 2010, especially since I didn't like what M$ did with 2013.

 

[Endzone]

There does seem to be the usual resistance to change being shown in this thread. Surely we must realise that all things need to be changed or updated. I really don't think MS has been unreasonable as it has given adequate warning that XP is coming to the end of being supported.
How many people are still using old black & white TV's, or analogue TV's?. Most people now use battery powered clocks rather that the older wind up ones. So over time we have to move to later technology whether we like it or not. Complaining bitterly about might ease your temper but won't stop progress.

Your analogy is not valid. Here's the right analogy. Let's say you bought a new car 12 years ago, and you paid $30,000 USD for it. You go to the car dealer, and try to get a new water pump and timing belt for your car. The dealer says, "We don't support that car any longer". So, even though you car still only has 140,000 miles on it (good for another 140,000), you are told you must buy a new car and the remaining life of your car must be forfeited.

 

[Ranger4]

There does seem to be the usual resistance to change being shown in this thread. Surely we must realise that all things need to be changed or updated. I really don't think MS has been unreasonable as it has given adequate warning that XP is coming to the end of being supported.
How many people are still using old black & white TV's, or analogue TV's?. Most people now use battery powered clocks rather that the older wind up ones. So over time we have to move to later technology whether we like it or not. Complaining bitterly about might ease your temper but won't stop progress.

Your analogy is not valid. Here's the right analogy. Let's say you bought a new car 12 years ago, and you paid $30,000 USD for it. You go to the car dealer, and try to get a new water pump and timing belt for your car. The dealer says, "We don't support that car any longer". So, even though you car still only has 140,000 miles on it (good for another 140,000), you are told you must buy a new car and the remaining life of your car must be forfeited.

While I agree with your analogy on an older model car it is not related to computer software. Car parts can be held in your hand & they can be stored for years for use later.
Software on the other hand is item in itself & does not have spare parts available to be fitted at a later stage.
XP has not broken down & will continue to run after support ends, but it will become vulnerable to virus & other nasty attacks, so it becomes over time more & more unreliable. Also if a computer running on XP becomes infected then transferring files etc. via email or other means will very likely transfer these nasties to other users. So continuing to use XP really does pose a greater risk to all of us not using XP.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi the
The car analogy is Actually quite valid -- the software is only a tool for ruinning our HARDWARE (in most cases) unless you are simply thinking about social mediia / office stuff --and for a lot of that you actually don't need a computer at all -- a smaet phone or tablet will suffice.

BTW ATM's use EMBEDDED XP which is a totally different animal to the XP you run on a PC.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Ranger4]

Is the Software only a tool for running the Hardware?, or is it the other way around. That being, Hardware is only a tool for running the Software. Probably it's a combination of both.

 

[bigmck]

I hope this is not too far off topic. You were talking about how XP will be unprotected to hackers, etc. I still run MS Office 2003. Is there any such problem with using it? I like the interface a lot better than the later ones.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Blech!

I hope this is not too far off topic. You were talking about how XP will be unprotected to hackers, etc. I still run MS Office 2003. Is there any such problem with using it? I like the interface a lot better than the later ones.

You'd better be careful.
If you say things like that "Ribbon" fans will start getting stroppy.