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.'"
Hardware requirements (Score:5, Informative)
Everyone running old specfialized hardware which is not compatible with windows 7 or later feel the pain of the XP end of life.
Its not about refusing or not. Some simply don't have the choice and must stick with XP.
We migrated 100% of our windows-based computers used for typical applications (office work, CAD, data analysis, etc.) to windows 7 or 8. But some machines working with specialized hardware, that is either too expensive to replace or for which simply no replacement exist, can't be migrated. They must remain with XP.
This actually creates a lot of frustration and administrative problems, as after the end of the XP support, those computers are not allowed to remain on the institution network anymore. A clear solution has still to be found (hint: ghostery and co. are not part of the solution).
Personally (Score:4, Informative)
I stick with XP for one of my desktops because I put my own hardware together (no OS preinstalled), and I don't want to pay horrific sums of money [dabs.com] (£135) for a new operating system - Windows 8 is even more expensive to buy a worthwhile edition of. It's behind my free Debian install which acts as a router+firewall. Works for me.
Re:Software doesn't wear out. (Score:2, Informative)
and I can still use updated versions of Firefox or Chrome for browsing the web
For now. Many open source projects are starting to drop XP support. For example XBMC just dropped it for their next version. I expect vista is up next. It is 8 less combinations to test for as XP had a few flavors out there. Most acted the same but some had a quirk or two.
Look its ok you run an old OS. No really it is. But do not plan on the open source guys to have your back. They will get bored or will not be able to find anyone who will support it.
You probably have 1-2 years left out of it. Just start thinking of upgrading.
For me the upgrade was worth it for the power bill and paid for itself in under a year. I went from a machine that added 20 dollars a month to my power bill to one that can barely get over 7w-10w and blows it away performance wise. It was a beast when I first bought it. But its time has come...
Re:Energy Usage of 12 PCs per Person Adds Up (Score:1, Informative)
Its for his business, you douchebag shill.
Re:Good for you. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Viva La XP! (Score:3, Informative)
I have a $100,000 digital cinema projector. (I own an operate a movie theatre.) The projector runs on Windows XP. Fortunately, it's not connected to the Internet; the server and associated hardware are a self-contained network. I load ("ingest) movies onto the system from CRU hard drives that arrive by courier or bus.