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Stan_1936
February 18th, 2009, 06:52 PM
Windows 7 is a year away, and Vista is an unpalatable alternative.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...bered_now.html




Windows XP's Days are Really Numbered Now
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Saturday, February 07, 2009 10:04 AM PST

In 10 weeks, Microsoft Corp. will begin to retire Windows XP by shifting the seven-year-old OS into a more limited support plan.


Windows XP, Microsoft's most successful operating system ever, will leave what the company calls "mainstream support" on April 14, and enter "extended support."


By Microsoft policy, mainstream support delivers free fixes -- for security patches and other bug fixes -- to everyone. During extended support, all users receive all security updates, but non-security hot fixes are provided only to companies that have signed support contracts with Microsoft.

SunnyRabbiera
February 18th, 2009, 07:02 PM
Typical Microsoft of course.
Once this ends and windows 7 is a big flop linux has a oppertunity.

Marko A
February 18th, 2009, 07:08 PM
It will make not make much difference for now.

Still staying with XP for awhile longer.

I'm using Linux more often.

SunnyRabbiera
February 18th, 2009, 07:10 PM
Right now no, but people still depend on XP and the vista debacle really set people off.

Kareeser
February 18th, 2009, 08:32 PM
Typical Microsoft move, deciding to cut back support to gain a few extra zeros in their bank account, before losing more when some sort of crippling zero-day vulnerability is discovered, and not patched.

They show promise in Midori, however.

Stan_1936
February 18th, 2009, 08:43 PM
Typical Microsoft move, deciding to cut back support to gain a few extra zeros in their bank account, before losing more when some sort of crippling zero-day vulnerability is discovered, and not patched.

They show promise in Midori, however.

When you said that, the following memory came rushing back to me......

It was a typical North American winter morning....cold but sunnny as hell. The entire house had woken up late(no New Year's Eve party or anything) after bringing in the New Year in front of the TV......watching other cities' celebrations. Tea/coffee was on the stove and breakfast had not yet been consumed. EVERYONE gathered around the computer. The year was 2000. The question of the hour: "What is going to happen when we turn on the computer?" There were suggestions to wait until the end of the day so the "viruses" could have some time to calm down. We were using Windows 98. As I reached over to press the power button(with the sunlight glaring through the windows), a relative jokingly said "Dun Dun Dun!!!" As usual, it took forever to start up, but there was a slight sigh of relief after the Windows loading screen appeared. Then it went blank for a few seconds............no one said a word. And the Windows desktop begun loading. We were all relieved(once it fully loaded up) that the date was correct. I was particularly relieved that my NHL 99 was still fully intact.

That was probably the only time we were that interested(simultaneously) in the computer.

Twitch6000
February 18th, 2009, 08:44 PM
OT: Okay I am probably going to sound stupid here,but is it just me or does the Windows 7 specs seem a bit pre planned?

Look at it this way, Windows Vista had a min. of 512mb ram and I think 1.2 cpu right? well Windows 7 min is basically double that.

So right away any vista user can upgrade to Windows 7 and not worry about looking for a alternative.

HOWEVER, WindowsXp computers rarly have anything above 1.5 gb's.

So I see this is a way we can get more Linux Users.

Because instead of them getting a whole new computer some must have tried Linux at least once, so they will surly try it again.

Others might have heard of it and try it.

So this could be a way for us to get alot of Linux users...

However I also think this was planned from the start by Microsoft,but has a flaw due to XP computers being low spec.

Yeah I know, crazy Idea,but hey I can give out my idea darn it :P.

Vince4Amy
February 18th, 2009, 09:11 PM
It makes sense, it's almost 8 years old so it's about time they stopped supporting it mainstream. And Extended support will be probably Extended further like Windows 98 was.

Despite what a lot of people say there's nothing wrong with Vista and I've been running it for 2 years now. Can't complain really, Canonical stop supporting Dapper this year and it was the last version of Ubuntu which wasn't complete crap to me. Though I do enjoy using the SuSE and Slackware now.

wolfen69
February 18th, 2009, 09:19 PM
most people won't give up xp until their computer dies, or microsoft pries their xp cd from their cold dead hands.

billgoldberg
February 18th, 2009, 10:17 PM
Typical Microsoft of course.


Does Canonical still offer support for Drake?

Eisenwinter
February 18th, 2009, 10:46 PM
Does Canonical still offer support for Drake?
Yeah, it ends in a few months, I assume in the month of the release (June, since dapper was released June 2006);

yther
February 18th, 2009, 10:51 PM
most people won't give up xp until their computer dies, or microsoft pries their xp cd from their cold dead hands.

Heh, as long as it continues to run in a VM, we never have to give it up. ;)

I wonder if they'll ever turn off (re)activations, though...

forrestcupp
February 18th, 2009, 11:11 PM
It makes sense, it's almost 8 years old so it's about time they stopped supporting it mainstream. And Extended support will be probably Extended further like Windows 98 was.

I agree. XP is going on a decade old. If they let it go too much longer, it will be about as bad as people complaining that Commodore 64's aren't supported anymore. It's funny how the people who are geeks are the ones who are too stubborn to let technology advance.

IMO, Vista isn't the piece of crud that everyone says it is. If you don't have an ancient computer, Vista beats the pants off of XP any day. The cheapest low-end computer you can buy nowadays (excluding those glamorized calculators called netbooks) can run Vista without any trouble at all.

Vince4Amy
February 18th, 2009, 11:14 PM
The cheapest low-end computer you can buy nowadays (excluding those glamorized calculators called netbooks) can run Vista without any trouble at all. Actually if you buy an Acer Aspire One and put 2GB RAM in there, it should run good. Vista is not the bad OS That people make it out to be IMO.

ThePinkPoo
February 18th, 2009, 11:14 PM
OT: Okay I am probably going to sound stupid here,but is it just me or does the Windows 7 specs seem a bit pre planned?

Look at it this way, Windows Vista had a min. of 512mb ram and I think 1.2 cpu right? well Windows 7 min is basically double that.

So right away any vista user can upgrade to Windows 7 and not worry about looking for a alternative.

HOWEVER, WindowsXp computers rarly have anything above 1.5 gb's.

So I see this is a way we can get more Linux Users.

Because instead of them getting a whole new computer some must have tried Linux at least once, so they will surly try it again.

Others might have heard of it and try it.

So this could be a way for us to get alot of Linux users...

However I also think this was planned from the start by Microsoft,but has a flaw due to XP computers being low spec.

Yeah I know, crazy Idea,but hey I can give out my idea darn it :P.
Don't know where you get your facts but Microsoft's Requirements are :

Windows 7 Beta recommended specifications[46]
Beta Recommended Specs
Processor speed 1 GHz (either 32-bit or 64-bit)
Memory (RAM) 1 GB
Graphics card DirectX 9.0 capable
Graphics memory 128 MB (for Windows Aero)
HDD free space 16 GB
Other drives DVD-ROM
Audio Audio output

SuperSonic4
February 18th, 2009, 11:28 PM
Microsoft said vista would run on pc with low specs. But you had to have all the eye candy turned off

aysiu
February 19th, 2009, 12:05 AM
Does Canonical still offer support for Drake?
It provides free upgrades to any newer version of Ubuntu, including Hardy, so I don't see how your question is relevant to this conversation.

At the same time, it is about time for XP to retire anyway. It's not as if Microsoft is forcing upgrades every year. XP has been around almost a decade. This, and Microsoft Office, are the primary ways Microsoft makes money, and Microsoft is a corporation, so it's primary purpose is to make money for its shareholders.