Windows XP reaches end-of-life!

Are you still using Windows XP?

Yes, I still use Windows XP.	33.3%	[ 6 ]
No. I don't use Windows XP.	55.6%	[ 10 ]
No, I don't use Windows.	11.1%	[ 2 ]
Total Votes:			[ 18 ]

[ppgrainbow]

If you are still on of the nearly 28% or an estimated 500 million customers running Windows XP, today is the last day that Microsoft will be providing security updates and most importantly support.

Starting tomorrow, Windows XP will be unsupported and customers will have to migrate to a supported version of Windows in order to continue receiving support and security updates.

Windows XP was RTM'd on 24 August 2001 and finalised on 25 October 2001. During its nearly 12½ years of support, it was a hugely popular operating system based on the foundation of Windows 2000. The operating system received numerous positive reviews, notice of increased performance, a user friendly interface, improved hardware support and its expanded multimedia capabilities. At the height of its popularity, Windows XP marketshare peaked as high as 76.1% in a w3schools report and 85% via Net Applications.

Windows XP retail sales ceased on 30 June 2008 and pre-installations on new PCs ended on 22 October 2010. Installations of Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Office 2007, Office 2010 and DirectX 9 will no longer receive updates on Windows XP also.

Other products that are reaching end-of-life today are Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Office 2003. Microsoft will also shut down its official Windows XP Community Forums after which moderators will no longer help users with any problems with the Windows XP operating system and the will be no more Microsoft Security Essentials installations on Windows XP. MSE installations and the Malicious Software Removal Tool will continue to be updated on Windows XP until 14 July 2015.

With the looming end of Extended Support, it was a cause for concern among major companies and governments due to the large Windows XP installations in several market segments, including enterprise environments, within specialised equipment which cannot be easily upgraded (such as automated teller machines) and the People's Republic of China...where as in that country, there would be fears that the end of Extended Support would fuel piracy of newer Windows versions.

Enterprise business who are unable to migrate off Windows XP after today will be eligible to receive Customer Support Agreement (CSA) that will run at least $200 per PC and the cost will soar very quickly. The Customer Support Agreement will last until 11 April 2017 after which Enterprise users are clearly out of luck.

Consumers and small business users running Windows XP are clearly out of luck and it would be rather wise to make the big leap forward to Windows 7 (until 31 October 2014) or Windows 8.1 and stop using a ancient OS that is over a decade old. Not just because, it's not cool as it has no innovation left anymore!

There is absolutely no excuse for an estimated 500 million users to keep using a operating system that is now, no longer supported!

And in not too many years from now, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista will slowly suffer the same fate along with Windows XP. Extended Support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista end on 14 July 2015 and 11 April 2017 respectively, after which these later versions of Windows will no longer be supported.

For more information why, read this Los Angeles Times article.

If consumers do want to keep running Windows XP and dumping it is NOT a option, Dwight Silverman from the San Francisco Chronicles has a good article on how to survive on their own. You should read it here if you're interested.

But other than that, it's about time to lay down, arguably one of the most successful operating systems in history down to die!

Thoughts on the demise of Windows XP support anyone?

[Sitwon]

To be completely honest, I think XP's slow and draw-out demise is far less interesting than Heartbleed.

Who cares about XP? Who cares about Microsoft setting yet another meaningless support deadline? People will continue using it forever. A lot of business are still using DOS software. If you care about support for XP ending, do something about it and get stragglers you know to upgrade their s**t. Otherwise, just ignore it like everyone else. It's not the end of the world.

[Sonic Offline]

Sitwon

To be completely honest, I think XP's slow and draw-out demise is far less interesting than Heartbleed.

Who cares about XP? Who cares about Microsoft setting yet another meaningless support deadline? People will continue using it forever. A lot of business are still using DOS software. If you care about support for XP ending, do something about it and get stragglers you know to upgrade their s**t. Otherwise, just ignore it like everyone else. It's not the end of the world.

There's a large number of ATMs that still run XP. I'm not certain if their support ends at the same time, but it's still scary.

[Synapt]

Sonic Offline

Sitwon

To be completely honest, I think XP's slow and draw-out demise is far less interesting than Heartbleed.

Who cares about XP? Who cares about Microsoft setting yet another meaningless support deadline? People will continue using it forever. A lot of business are still using DOS software. If you care about support for XP ending, do something about it and get stragglers you know to upgrade their s**t. Otherwise, just ignore it like everyone else. It's not the end of the world.

There's a large number of ATMs that still run XP. I'm not certain if their support ends at the same time, but it's still scary.

ATM's are XP Embedded usually as far as I recall, which has support until Jan 2016 I believe.

[Sitwon]

Synapt

Sonic Offline

Sitwon

To be completely honest, I think XP's slow and draw-out demise is far less interesting than Heartbleed.

Who cares about XP? Who cares about Microsoft setting yet another meaningless support deadline? People will continue using it forever. A lot of business are still using DOS software. If you care about support for XP ending, do something about it and get stragglers you know to upgrade their s**t. Otherwise, just ignore it like everyone else. It's not the end of the world.

There's a large number of ATMs that still run XP. I'm not certain if their support ends at the same time, but it's still scary.

ATM's are XP Embedded usually as far as I recall, which has support until Jan 2016 I believe.

Regardless, ATMs are not on the Internet. There are multiple layers that an attacker would need to penetrate before reaching an ATM's OS, and those layers don't run on XP.

Besides, many POS systems are running MS-DOS. Some of them have upgraded to FreeDOS, but quite a few still run on plain old MS-DOS. It's not the end of the world.

[Paige-Anon]

xp was good while it lasted.
farewell to a good and reliable operating system.

[notmuch_23]

...yet I will use it as long as the hard drive on my desktop remains functional.

[Sonic Offline]

notmuch_23

...yet I will use it as long as the hard drive on my desktop remains functional.

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are mildly retarded.

[Dreadpirate Chris Roberts]

Sonic Offline

notmuch_23

...yet I will use it as long as the hard drive on my desktop remains functional.

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are retarded.

ftfy

[psychic stalker]

Dreadpirate Chris Roberts

Sonic Offline

notmuch_23

...yet I will use it as long as the hard drive on my desktop remains functional.

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are retarded.

ftfy

There's really no way to put this nicely, is there?

[Sonic Offline]

psychic stalker

Dreadpirate Chris Roberts

Sonic Offline

notmuch_23

...yet I will use it as long as the hard drive on my desktop remains functional.

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are retarded.

ftfy

There's really no way to put this nicely, is there?

Sometimes you have to be blunt to get through the retardation. It acts like a safety net.

[Lanackse-Kanvae]

Sonic Offline

psychic stalker

Dreadpirate Chris Roberts

Sonic Offline

notmuch_23

...yet I will use it as long as the hard drive on my desktop remains functional.

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are retarded.

ftfy

There's really no way to put this nicely, is there?

Sometimes you have to be blunt to get through the retardation. It acts like a safety net.

Retardation has damage reduction vs blunt weapons you're better off with a razor to cut through the retardation.

[notmuch_23]

Sonic Offline

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are mildly retarded.

I have a netbook with Windows 7, that I actually use for the internet. My desktop is so obsolete that it still uses Rambus. I don't always need the biggest, best, and greatest technology when I have something older that works just fine. In fact, I don't even have a smartphone, and I barely even use my dumb phone, and I actively reject the notion that the newest technology is an automatic improvement to one's life.

Besides: my obsolete desktop is waaaay faster than my newer netbook.

[Sonic Offline]

notmuch_23

Sonic Offline

At the risk of being reported, I must inform you that if this is by choice you are mildly retarded.

I have a netbook with Windows 7, that I actually use for the internet. My desktop is so obsolete that it still uses Rambus. I don't always need the biggest, best, and greatest technology when I have something older that works just fine. In fact, I don't even have a smartphone, and I barely even use my dumb phone, and I actively reject the notion that the newest technology is an automatic improvement to one's life.

Besides: my obsolete desktop is waaaay faster than my newer netbook.

I don't see any reason, officer, to use my brand new Volvo that has seatbelts when I have an older Chevy that works perfectly fine. It's so old that it doesn't even have seat belts, but it runs faster than the Volvo.

[Akashix1]

i wish microsoft would create an operating system that they can support for 100 years.