Maybe With Help From Google and Adobe, Microsoft Can Kill Windows XP 405
colinneagle sends this excerpt from Network World:
"Google announced last Friday that, in accordance to its policy of supporting a current browser and the immediate predecessor, its Google Apps productivity suite would drop support for Internet Explorer 8 once Windows 8 ships. Neither IE9 nor IE10 are available on XP. Adobe announced on the Photoshop Blog that the next version of Photoshop CS would support only Windows 7 and 8. The current version, CS6, is available for XP but, amusingly, not for Vista, which was its successor. This is a much-needed boost for Microsoft, which anxiously wants to put XP out to pasture after 11 years. Despite efforts to get rid of the old OS, XP still holds 43% of the market, according to the latest monthly data from Net Applications. Among Steam customers, Windows 7 has 70% market share, covering both 32-bit and 64-bit, while XP has 12%. That confirms what has been known for some time: consumers are adopting Windows 7 at a much faster rate than businesses. I know there is a whole economic argument to be had, and these numbers are not precise or scientific, but if XP really can be found in only 12% of households but 43% of businesses (or something close to that), then it really is time for the enterprise to stop dragging its tail."
Re:The Cost (Score:4, Interesting)
"Adobe Audition1 is a great product!"
That's because it's still Cool Edit Pro. Then Adobe started fucking around with the codebase and turned the entire thing into a horrible, steaming pile of shit in a few short months.
Re:Kill XP? (Score:4, Interesting)
Here's why I continue to use XP. I am a public high school teacher. I take systems that are donated by local businesses, refurb them, and donate them to students who don't have computers at home. Virtually every single computer that gets donated has an XP COA sticker on the case. I have tried sending the donated PC's out with Ubuntu installed, but the majority of recipients don't like it because it's "different", i.e. not what they are used to and comfortable with. So I install XP.
I like the "Windows Classic" idea; I think MS should (and could) put out a basic OS (with some built in limitations, i.e. limited in RAM, storage, or something like that) for $50...as that's all most users would need. Even better if they have some sort of "trade up" program that allowed you to "deregister" an XP key in exchange for a "Windows Classic" key.
Re:Kill XP? (Score:2, Interesting)
I run into this regularly at work, where it makes no sense at all because we have a volume licensing agreement with Microsoft. I always used to say when it happened that Microsoft was reminding me to buy a mac, which I eventually did. Macs are more expensive, and Apple isn't perfect either, but at least they leave me to run the software I've paid for in peace.
Re:Do professionals use Photoshop on Windows? (Score:4, Interesting)
Speaking as a programmer (Python web apps mostly) I find that I am much more productive on Mac than Windows. This is partly due to the much better command shell, but also due to the fact that I host my apps on UNIX and Mac OS X is a form of UNIX. The bottom line is that I can spend hours and days trying to get some python module working properly on Windows, chasing down compilers, etc., and on Mac it's a matter of "pip install module". It also helps that Macs tend to be much more reliable.
Choose the best platform for the task.