OS WARS MEGA THREAD (Now debating proprietary vs. open-source!)

[Lucy]

IIRC, this happened a year or two ago, eh? What am I thinking of? :huh:

The predefined, original period was extended a couple of times due to the lacking uptake of Vista, and 7, initially. Now that many fewer people are depending on XP, MS can officially "kill" the thirteen year old operating system.

XP is older than all of my children (put together). It deserves nothing less than a full state funeral to mark its passing, in my opinion. While it had a shakey start, its longevity shows how stable and ubiquitous the OS eventually became, due in part to how long Vista took to release and how unpopular Vista became (and remained) - and I figure people got their fingers burned with that, which initially slowed 7's uptake until enough people said it was actually not that bad.

I don't run any XP machines any more save a virtual machine in work for testing websites in old versions of internet explorer, but this news won't affect those copies anyway.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

My reaction is laughter.

Bahaha silly Microsoft sheeple.

Come over to our soviet Linux paradise with infinite customization & the occasional unfixable dependency issue/bug/unexplained explosion. :lol:

speaking of, Crunchbang is a really nice OS if you only need to do basic tasks like word processing, internet browsing, etc. Not a good development platform at the moment due to a libc6 dependency issue, but oh well...

 

[paddy2]

If it takes this long to get rid of XP, no wonder its so hard to get Linux into the workplace!

 

[Pablo49]

People (outside of china) still use XP?

Unless you have some highly specific reason to, you're an idiot basically. Windows 7 is fantastic, and 8 and 8.1 (Have to use 'and' since more intrusive than service packs were) are themselves really nice after a bit of tweaking.

 

[Loru]

I visited call center this week and all of their PCs used XP. There were over 500 PCs running only e-mail client and caller application. Upgrading those PCs to Win7 (both hardware and software) will cost little fortune so I think XP will stay for a while in office applications.

 

[MattBaker]

People (outside of china) still use XP?

If you don't need to keep up with the latest hardware a PC from 2006 still works fine. Why should you buy a new OS for money if you already have one that works just fine?

 

[Lucy]

Bahaha silly Microsoft sheeple.

Come over to our soviet Linux paradise with infinite customization & the occasional unfixable dependency issue/bug/unexplained explosion. :lol:

speaking of, Crunchbang is a really nice OS if you only need to do basic tasks like word processing, internet browsing, etc. Not a good development platform at the moment due to a libc6 dependency issue, but oh well...

We have a lovely thread to talk about linux in, let's keep this one on-topic, hmm?

Unless you have some highly specific reason to, you're an idiot basically. Windows 7 is fantastic, and 8 and 8.1 (Have to use 'and' since more intrusive than service packs were) are themselves really nice after a bit of tweaking.

The main reasons would probably be hardware restrictions and license costs. Later versions of Windows won't work on the kind of hardware XP did (the original memory requirement was 128MB for XP and 512MB for Vista), which can limit users' choice.

In addition, there is software which works for XP which does not work under later versions of Windows. Some things can be virtualised, but not every use case is covered by that.

I wholeheartedly reject the notion that anybody is an idiot for using a certain software or workflow. If what you're doing works and you're accomplishing what you need to, then use whatever you like to meet those goals; if that's still DOS 5, then I pity you, but it doesn't make you an idiot.

 

[Urwumpe]

I wholeheartedly reject the notion that anybody is an idiot for using a certain software or workflow. If what you're doing works and you're accomplishing what you need to, then use whatever you like to meet those goals; if that's still DOS 5, then I pity you, but it doesn't make you an idiot.

I would extend this a bit: I would call anybody an idiot, who is using an obsolete piece of software in the internet, even behind a simple single firewall. Or maybe has it in the same network as office PCs with unrestricted USB ports. I don't mind about having a old Windows NT 4.0 machine ticking deep inside your factories local area network - as long as it is a closely admistered network, that can't be accessed from the outside without a large investment of criminal energy.

If you use DOS 5 there - who cares? the updated operating systems by Microsoft are very likely the wrong choice for the task anyway.

 

[Artlav]

People (outside of china) still use XP?

People still use DOS.
Until a couple of years ago, the local equivalent of IRS only accepted tax reports on floppy disks.

If a 60 year old lady is trained to use a specific piece of DOS or Win98 accounting software, then updating that software can only happen along with updating the lady, and many of them live well past the average age.

Many government agencies work on "15 years till obsolete" rule - no equipment newer than 15 years can be replaced unless broken.
Can you run Vista/7/8.1 on a 10 year old budget computer?

 

[JonnyBGoode]

I've got an old XP it'll take me a month or three to replace (due to lack of finances). Just gonna pray no major exploits pop up in that time.

 

[Quick_Nick]

no equipment newer than 15 years can be replaced unless broken

 

[garyw]

The predefined, original period was extended a couple of times due to the lacking uptake of Vista, and 7, initially. Now that many fewer people are depending on XP, MS can officially "kill" the thirteen year old operating system.

XP is older than all of my children (put together). It deserves nothing less than a full state funeral to mark its passing, in my opinion. While it had a shakey start, its longevity shows how stable and ubiquitous the OS eventually became, due in part to how long Vista took to release and how unpopular Vista became (and remained) - and I figure people got their fingers burned with that, which initially slowed 7's uptake until enough people said it was actually not that bad.

I don't run any XP machines any more save a virtual machine in work for testing websites in old versions of internet explorer, but this news won't affect those copies anyway.

Microsoft also operate two distinct support phases. There is mainstream support (whey there are service packs, addons, bolt ons, etc) and then there is security support.

In total, they are supposed to last 10 years. XP lasted 13 which is a tribute to an OS that many people hated at first. I refused to use it until the first service pack came out.

Today, you've got Windows 8.X and many people hate it. It's a typical cycle. In time people will upgrade.

I've got an old XP it'll take me a month or three to replace (due to lack of finances). Just gonna pray no major exploits pop up in that time.

Even if they do it's not a big deal.

It's not like a major exploit, even if found, will suddenly appear on every single XP PC. People have to do something to get it on there, be careless, open a dodgy attachment, etc, etc.

For example, Cryptolocker is probably the most prevalent threat today and Windows 8.X can still get infected by it. The ONLY issue here is that Windows XP won't get patched, not that it's suddenly many times more vulnerable than another OS.

Even today there will be unpatched security holes in various windows operating systems and how many people patch their OS the day the patches come out? How about a week after? two? four? 52?

How many run using a local admin account?

 

[kamaz]

So, what are you guys doing? Nothing? Panicking? Upgrading software or hardware? Putting on sunglasses and chilling?

Celebrating that we've finally managed to get rid of Win98 and Win2000 from the organization. (Although Win2000 is a pretty cool OS, overall. I used it a lot for virtualized development machines, because there is no activation hassle. Although WinServer with it's 180-day trial can now be used for that as well.)

And, I have XP machines built into several pieces of equipment which are critical for daily operation. You think I'm going to touch that?

 

[Linguofreak]

So, what are you guys doing? Nothing? Panicking? Upgrading software or hardware? Putting on sunglasses and chilling?

Well,

I stopped using Window personally about 5 years ago, and our family XP desktop died about a year ago and was replaced with a Win7 machine.

As to why Microsoft is having such trouble getting people to move away from XP, XP has pretty much all the features that are absolutely necessary in an operating system, and was the first OS Microsoft offered to consumers of which this was true. It may not have drivers for this or that specific hardware, and it may be missing luxury feature X, Y, or Z, but changes to Windows since XP have been incremental or cosmetic.

 

[Pablo49]

Unless you have some highly specific reason to, you're an idiot basically.

I am now going to list highly specific reasons not to use a newer OS as if that somehow disagrees with this quote.

 

[MattBaker]

I am now going to list highly specific reasons not to use a newer OS as if that somehow disagrees with this quote.

I don't know if "costs money" is a highly specific reason not to have something.
If so I am an idiot for not owning five cars, seven houses, an XR-5 and my own naval fleet which is always positioned in such a way to make a fancy golf course (Hint: Always put against the movement of the ship and bring more than one ball, preferably a few hundred).

 

[Pablo49]

I don't know if "costs money" is a highly specific reason not to have something.
If so I am an idiot for not owning five cars, seven houses, an XR-5 and my own naval fleet which is always positioned in such a way to make a fancy golf course (Hint: Always put against the movement of the ship and bring more than one ball, preferably a few hundred).

Welp, no one understands what I am saying ever.

 

[Andy44]

I still have my old 386/40 computer running DOS 5.0 in storage. Haven't turned it on in years but it's the only machine I have that runs those old games so digging it out and tossing it is not a priority.

I guess I'm an "idiot".

 

[Pablo49]

I guess I'm an "idiot".

Not at all.

I regret ever posting in this thread. =/

 

[orb]

I still have my old 386/40 computer running DOS 5.0 in storage.

{...}

I guess I'm an "idiot".

No. That is one of the "highly specific reasons" mentioned there:

[highlight]Unless you have some highly specific reason to[/highlight], you're an idiot basically.