Meet the Diehards Who Refuse To Move On From Windows XP 641
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Nearly every longtime Windows user looks back on Windows XP with a certain fondness, but the party's over according to Microsoft. 'It's time to move on,' says Tom Murphy, Microsoft's director of communications for Windows. 'XP was designed for a different era.' But Ian Paul writes in PC World that many people around the world refuse to give up on XP. But why? What's so great about an operating system that was invented before the age of Dropbox and Facebook, an OS that's almost as old as the original Google search engine? Bob Appel, a retiree based in Toronto, says he uses 12 PCs in a personal Dropbox-like network—10 of which are running XP. 'I use a third-party firewall, a free virus checker, and run Housecall periodically,' says Appel. 'My Firefox browser uses Keyscrambler, HTTPS Anywhere, Ghostery, and Disconnect. I also have a VPN account (PIA) when traveling. For suspicious email attachments, I deploy private proprietary bioware (me!) to analyze before opening. All the "experts" say I am crazy. Thing is, I stopped the security updates in XP years ago after a bad update trashed my system, and yet I have never been infected, although online for hours each day. So, crazy though I be, I am sticking with XP.'" (Read more, below.)
More from Pickens: "Mike Merritt uses an XP PC to run his online business in rural Ontario and cites Outlook Express as one of his major reasons for sticking with XP. The once-popular email client isn't available with Windows 7 or 8.1, and for Merritt, alternatives such as Thunderbird or webmail clients like Outlook.com are a non-starter. 'Webmails have a slower load time than a desktop app like Outlook Express and they would have their own learning curve and modification to my current workflow,' says Merritt. 'The upgrade path for me would require replacing a bunch of things that work just fine as far as I'm concerned.' The same day that Windows XP reaches its end of support on April 8, Microsoft will roll out a major update to Windows 8.1 that will make it easier for traditional desktop users and the company recently announced that the Start menu will return to Windows sometime in the coming months. Mike Eldridge says that since his computer is currently on its last legs, he's going to cross his fingers and hope for the best until it finally dies. 'I am worried about security threats, but I'd rather have my identity stolen than put up with Windows 8.'"
My grandpappy done left me this XP (Score:5, Funny)
And I ain't leavin'!!! Ya hear that gubmint?!?
Re:bullshit (Score:5, Funny)
Webmail loads slower?
Not that I am aware of. From the summary:
the Start menu will return to Windows sometime in the coming months
It appears that they tested it on a really slow computer. On my computer, the start menu appears just after I have clicked the button...
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:5, Funny)
I have a 1984 Tandy 1000 that does exactly what I need it to do - give me bragging rights in Internet threads about how my niche usage case is relevant to all users, everywhere.
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:5, Funny)
I have a 1987 BBC Micro in my sitting room which does everything I need it to do, which is be a 1987 BBC Micro in my sitting room.
Re:Didn't we used to call this "speed reading"? (Score:4, Funny)
Certainly I utilize this now to skim Slashdot in seconds....
You may want to slow down enough to at least make sure you are commenting on the right article :)
Re:XP still in use in many technical environments (Score:2, Funny)
Re:My grandpappy done left me this XP (Score:5, Funny)
Your wrong.
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:5, Funny)
I'd upgrade right back to WinXP if I could. Win8 is currently blocking access to all my apps, the WinStore won't load, and the store broker loads in the background and uses up half the system resources. Microsoft's "support" response? Go back to the days of Win95 and format/re-install because they can't be bothered to figure out what broke it (oh btw, 4th time this has happened)
What's the point of getting support from a company who doesn't actually want to support you?
I think what you're supposed to do is just bear with it until you can buy Windows 9. And then just bear with that until you can buy Windows 10. See, the problem with XP was that it actually worked. Microsoft has since solved that problem.
Re:Not available (Score:4, Funny)
There are several accounting solutions out there, just a quick search found:
http://www.gnucash.org/ [gnucash.org]
http://turbocash.net/ [turbocash.net]
http://frontaccounting.com/wb3... [frontaccounting.com]
http://www.sql-ledger.com/ [sql-ledger.com]
http://ledgersmb.org/ [ledgersmb.org]
Her is a list of replacements for AutoCAD:
http://blog.cometdocs.com/10-g... [cometdocs.com]
Besides GIMP there is Krita and Cinepaint, and GIMPshop provides a Photoshop like interface. GIMP does have plugins if one needs CMYK. Inkscape does Vector Graphics. Scribus is more of a replacement for Illustrator.
There were some lack of features years ago. The options have matured since then.
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:5, Funny)