Why are 74% of business computers still running XP

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  1. Posts : 351
    Windows 7 x64 (RTM via MSDN)
       #40

    DrWho said:
    ITChick said:
    In my organization we are actually migrating everyone this summer to Windows 7 Pro with Office 2007. In fact I just got back from a trip to one of our campuses where I switched all the office staff. Lots more trips planned this summer so I will be a very busy lady Very exciting times! I love my job!
    I hope your experience with Office 2007 is better than mine. It's a monster and so big that I didn't even want it on my "C" drive, so I installed it on my storage partition, my "D" drive.

    I was not happy with it at all, so I uninstalled it, using the windows UN-Installer.
    Then, just for grins and giggles, I ran a registry cleaner + NTREGOpt on my registry.
    The size of the registry was reduced by 30 megabytes. WOW! What Bloat!

    I went back to Office 2003 which runs just great and does everything I need and with far less bloat.

    I'll bet you do love your job. I had a similar job years ago as IT Specialist for the County. I also did all their computer and printer repairs. It can be very rewarding.

    Good Luck,
    The Doctor
    We too are moving from Office 2003 to Office 2007 and I can't wait. (I'm running Office 2010, but the rest of the company is stuck with 2003). First of all, 2007 is not much bigger than 2003 in terms of resource requirements. The new file formats, especially in Excel, are a godsend. Limiting worksheets to only 65k rows was killing us for some of our data analysis. In addition, the new file formats create files 10% the size of the old ones, so less strain on the e-mail servers.

    In addition the Ribbon UI actually makes Office useful (2010 makes it even better).

    And your comment about the registry growing 30MB. So what, the average hard drive is 500GB. Only a very small portion of the registry is ever loaded into memory, the rest is simply a database of settings for programs.

    PhreePhly
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #41

    JonM33 said:
    Here's a good reason not to run Windows XP: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-042 - Critical: Vulnerability in Help and Support Center Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2229593)

    Note how Windows 7 is not affected? Now these IT admins and support are going to need to push these updates through WSUS and ensure that they report successfully in SCCM. That's going to take additional time and money.

    If they had migrated their systems to Windows 7? It wouldn't even be a worry.
    On the flip side, here is a remote code exploit that impacts Windows 7 64-bit only.
    Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-043 - Critical: Vulnerability in Canonical Display Driver Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2032276)
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  3. Posts : 565
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #42

    Win7User512 said:
    That could be said about any arbitrary Windows version in the future. "Windows X has vulnerability Y and must need to be upgraded instead of patched."

    Software is inherently flawed. There is no and will be no perfect software without bugs. Even when we get to quantum computing.
    Q: Which version of Windows has had more critical updates in the last year since Windows 7 was released? Windows 7 or Windows XP?

    The answer should tell you which version of Windows is better from an IT support perspective.

    pparks1 said:
    I doubt many companies are going to use x64 due to the higher system requirements.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 83
    Windows 7 Pro (64bit).
       #43

    PhreePhly said:
    Question, have you found programs that work in Win7 x32 but not Win7 x64? This is something we have encountered, more often than not. many apps seem to be written to use libraries that don't handle the CPU entering into Long Mode when using a 64-bit OS. This leads to confusion to install Win7 x32 or x64, and now we need to support multiple setups. My company is planning on making the move to Win 7 this year, and I suspect it will be all 32-bit, just to avoid these issues. We will have a few workstations go 64-bit so that we can expose more RAM for GIS, CADD and Modelling software.

    PhreePhly
    Anything that uses a hardware driver written more than about 4 years ago is most unlikely to have a (compatible or otherwise) 64bit driver.

    Like: The old Cisco VPN (I use Cisco AnyConnect on "7" 64bit - see specs), I have the "7" Virtual PC software running as well where I run several things that would not work on "7" 64 bit...

    Like: We have fax driver cards on several servers that work great in 32bit but are just never going to work in 64bit.

    Like: The old Epson TWAIN scanner driver for the Perfection range. Never mind that there is software that will drive these scanners perfectly in Windows/7 64bit (VueScan)... Silly old Epson

    You can also find 3rd party vendors promise support for a great deal. Just remember that third party software vendors always promise the world and frankly many of them are just selling futures.

    That sounds like I am saying they are telling lies, which they are not "really" (oh alright, they are, but it's part of the S/W game), you just need to know what is shipping NOW and what they will ship NEXT (or the release after). Get a system set up to demo the complete solution - end to end - before signing on the line.

    Good luck.

      My Computer


  5. Posts : 351
    Windows 7 x64 (RTM via MSDN)
       #44

    bjrichus said:
    PhreePhly said:
    Question, have you found programs that work in Win7 x32 but not Win7 x64? This is something we have encountered, more often than not. many apps seem to be written to use libraries that don't handle the CPU entering into Long Mode when using a 64-bit OS. This leads to confusion to install Win7 x32 or x64, and now we need to support multiple setups. My company is planning on making the move to Win 7 this year, and I suspect it will be all 32-bit, just to avoid these issues. We will have a few workstations go 64-bit so that we can expose more RAM for GIS, CADD and Modelling software.

    PhreePhly
    Anything that uses a hardware driver written more than about 4 years ago is most unlikely to have a (compatible or otherwise) 64bit driver.

    Like: The old Cisco VPN (I use Cisco AnyConnect on "7" 64bit - see specs), I have the "7" Virtual PC software running as well where I run several things that would not work on "7" 64 bit...

    Like: We have fax driver cards on several servers that work great in 32bit but are just never going to work in 64bit.

    Like: The old Epson TWAIN scanner driver for the Perfection range. Never mind that there is software that will drive these scanners perfectly in Windows/7 64bit (VueScan)... Silly old Epson

    You can also find 3rd party vendors promise support for a great deal. Just remember that third party software vendors always promise the world and frankly many of them are just selling futures.

    That sounds like I am saying they are telling lies, which they are not "really" (oh alright, they are, but it's part of the S/W game), you just need to know what is shipping NOW and what they will ship NEXT (or the release after). Get a system set up to demo the complete solution - end to end - before signing on the line.

    Good luck.

    Yea, I understand the hardware issues, and that will always be there (we currently have a piece of equipment attached to a Win98 machine, as the vendor is long gone and a newer version of the control software was never written). One thing that Vista helped on was requiring that any driver vendor wishing for a MS certificate was required to submit both a 32 and a 64-bit version of the driver.

    I was talking about stand-alone apps, as these are the most frustrating. Most of the 32/64 compatibility problems stem from poor programming practices. The one that really gets me is a piece of software that functions fine in every way, except you can't print from it (it's main function is to generate a pre-formatted document). The vendor used some printing widget that makes use of Win16 API calls. 32-bit windows can handle that, but 64-bit can't. They actually wrote the program in VB, but opted not to use the standard Win32 printing APIs.
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  6. Posts : 1,487
    Windows 7 x64 / Same
       #45

    JonM33 said:
    Win7User512 said:
    That could be said about any arbitrary Windows version in the future. "Windows X has vulnerability Y and must need to be upgraded instead of patched."

    Software is inherently flawed. There is no and will be no perfect software without bugs. Even when we get to quantum computing.
    Q: Which version of Windows has had more critical updates in the last year since Windows 7 was released? Windows 7 or Windows XP?

    The answer should tell you which version of Windows is better from an IT support perspective.
    Well, Windows 7 has the patched XP legacy code...so those are no longer vulnerabilities...

    JonM33 said:
    pparks1 said:
    I doubt many companies are going to use x64 due to the higher system requirements.
    I know some. They are moving to Server 2008 R2. Which is basically the same as Windows 7 (x64).
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 241
    W7 Pro
       #46

    Every company I go into and start talking about OS systems in one way oe another I always ask them why are you still using XP? They all say the same thing....

    Because XP works, the perception of moving to another OS is alot of work and expense.

    The ONLY way MS is going to get XP on the shelf is to stop supporting it in anyway. Heck, I can still buy a brand new Toughbook with XP, Vista, or W7 on it. MS can state all they want about not supporting XP, but if a person is still able to get it on a new puter from a major manufacture there will be support.

    Just my .02cents
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 351
    Windows 7 x64 (RTM via MSDN)
       #47

    toughbook said:
    Every company I go into and start talking about OS systems in one way oe another I always ask them why are you still using XP? They all say the same thing....

    Because XP works, the perception of moving to another OS is alot of work and expense.

    The ONLY way MS is going to get XP on the shelf is to stop supporting it in anyway. Heck, I can still buy a brand new Toughbook with XP, Vista, or W7 on it. MS can state all they want about not supporting XP, but if a person is still able to get it on a new puter from a major manufacture there will be support.

    Just my .02cents
    The only support you are going to see is extended support, which is only security updates, and after 2014, even those end. Hardware manufacturers are under no obligation to continue to make XP drivers for hardware. As they move to focus more on Win7 and less on XP, you start to see hardware with no XP drivers. As more business move to Win7, there will be less incentive to spend development dollars on XP drivers/hardware.
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  9. Posts : 565
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #48

    Win7User512 said:
    Well, Windows 7 has the patched XP legacy code...so those are no longer vulnerabilities...
    I do hope you are kidding when you say that.

    Win7User512 said:
    I know some. They are moving to Server 2008 R2. Which is basically the same as Windows 7 (x64).
    I'm talking about DESKTOPS. Who would put Server 2008 on a desktop?
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #49

    JonM33 said:
    I'm talking about DESKTOPS. Who would put Server 2008 on a desktop?
    We have a few users on this board that have run Sever 2008 R2 as a desktop. While you can make it look like Windows 7...I don't think it's the best choice for a desktop. Not to mention, it's far more expensive to purchase legit licenses for. Unless you have tehcnet or something for personal testing, it's hard to justify the extra cost of running Server 2008 R2.
      My Computer


 
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