[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Proposal: Open Source Life, Not Death Sentence, for Windows XP here

[GetReal]

Excellent article describing Microsoft, plus gets to the core of the problem for people on very tight budgets (AKA: Social Security) and would provide a useful hobby for many people, and,
With very little negative impact to Microsoft.

But we will be long dead before such an even occurs!

[wsmacl]

Great idea. But it'll never happen. MS is way too selfish. (although perhaps less so than Apple).
BTW - I am happily running XP and Office 2003. It works just fine thanks! More powerful than I need actually.

[CharlesJosephHall]

I think its a great idea, micro[censored] already made their millions from XP. Like the article says, they wouldn't lose anything. The worse that could happen, it would improve their image. But like the article says again, it will never happen, they're too self centered to help anyone out, but them selves.

[mike6875]

My8 year old Dell 2400 cannot run Win7 I tried,but it runs XP great and I can't afford a new machine.So what are people like me supposed to do?

[achraf52]

It is better to upgrade to new technology, this also increase trust and value by customers to those organizations, even if the price is clearly big .

[h82bu]

Will never happen because as much as any software company would like you to believe that it's latest and greatest was written from scratch they are not. There are always bits of code re-used and opening that up for the world to view will compromise it's current software.

[Jameshoqh]

I have an older XP computer. I solved the problem with Linux. You can get a smaller OS that will run fine. I am impressed with the updating and package managers. The only thing keeping people from going to Linux is fear of the unknown. It is better at finding peripherals than XP. I have to install the driver from a disk for my network, Linux just does it on installation. It took some experimenting to find what I liked, but it is free except for the disk, fun, and a learning experience.

[JoshMiller]

So the premise of this article is that somehow Microsoft "owes" the consumer something other than what was promised? Ridiculous.

The consumer bought a license to use the software. The continuing updates for a decade afterward are nice, and probably few people would purchase the software without those updates, but the updates are NOT owed to anyone.

Why would Microsoft continue to pay people to work on projects that generate NOTHING for the company? As an investor in Microsoft (and many other tech companies) I would vehemently object to this strategy.

Good for the free-loaders. Bad for business. I care way more about business than I do that people who can't come up with $350 every decade don't have up-to-date software.

[rak1948]

First - I agree with this article but I also agree with the point that it will not be done because Windows 7 & 8 use substantial sections of code from XP and its predecessors.

Second - this article asks about what MS could do with XP. It has nothing to do with replacing with another OS so please keep the comments germane to the subject.

[rwittler]

IF the newer versions were better I might upgrade. I started with Word 1.0 for Windows 2.01. That's right, no typo. 2.01. I upgraded every step of the way until they changed Word into something else with 2007. I won't upgrade until MS restores the menu structure. Make it an option or you no more of my $. I might upgrade to Win 7. I'm not opposed to upgrading, it simply must have value to me, as well as MS. I will be taking my last good XP/2003 machine off line soon and go back to a sneaker net, all because both MS and I are too stubborn to give each other what the other wants. Enlightened, eh?

[djdjohnson]

There are bound to be a ton of patents that MS has licensed (through cross-licensing or otherwise) that would make distributing the product freely difficult... somebody would have to pay for those licenses.

As for going open source, XP shares too much code with Windows 7 for MS to let that out into the open.

[MichaelRousseau]

JoshMiller, on 14 April 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

So the premise of this article is that somehow Microsoft "owes" the consumer something other than what was promised? Ridiculous.

The consumer bought a license to use the software. The continuing updates for a decade afterward are nice, and probably few people would purchase the software without those updates, but the updates are NOT owed to anyone.

Why would Microsoft continue to pay people to work on projects that generate NOTHING for the company? As an investor in Microsoft (and many other tech companies) I would vehemently object to this strategy.

Good for the free-loaders. Bad for business. I care way more about business than I do that people who can't come up with $350 every decade don't have up-to-date software.

I agree. Besides, shouldn't they cry foul every time Apple kicks out a new OS? Business is about money. Ask Apple. Karma and good will don't put food on the table. You can also run Win 8 on hardware built for XP. If you can use XP then learning Win 8 is no huge feat. Also the new OS has more to do with ever changing hardware and devises so really I would not expect MS to keep supporting a dinosaur like XP.

[MichaelRousseau]

mike6875, on 14 April 2012 - 04:36 PM, said:

My8 year old Dell 2400 cannot run Win7 I tried,but it runs XP great and I can't afford a new machine.So what are people like me supposed to do?

If it runs XP just great it will run Win8 even better. For what people payed for XP seriously expecting MS to support them forever is not logical. You can pay $20 000 on up to the sky is the limit for a new car. Yet a warranty will not last 10 years or more. Lucky if you get 3 years. So dropping a few hundred for a new OS to replace one that is over ten years old is not unreasonable. You can even partition your drive nad try out Win 8 CP fully supported with updates till early next year on your hardware before you buy it just to make sure it works well on your hardware. Try getting a car company to give you a new car for a year under full warranty for free to try for a year. Not going to happen.

[nimatra]

Open sourcing Windows XP! what does it mean? I assume that you've done some research about how new versions of software are developed. They are not written from scratch. Some modification, some new features, and some same old features. What you are suggesting is open sourcing Windows not Windows XP specifically.

[Mattvm8v]

There's already an open source alternative to Windows out. It's called ReactOS.

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

[YellowEagle]

Jameshoqh, on 14 April 2012 - 05:42 PM, said:

I have an older XP computer. I solved the problem with Linux. You can get a smaller OS that will run fine. I am impressed with the updating and package managers. The only thing keeping people from going to Linux is fear of the unknown. It is better at finding peripherals than XP. I have to install the driver from a disk for my network, Linux just does it on installation. It took some experimenting to find what I liked, but it is free except for the disk, fun, and a learning experience.

Trouble is not everyone has the Time to learn a new operating system, that's a pretty good learning curve, also not all the software is compatible though great strides are narrowing the gap there. And yet another learning curve is the fact of the software to do one's business and in everyday life. True Linux is bringing a lot to the table, and has opened up many new avenues for many people. But it isn't always easy and there are a lot of people that aren't Tech savy to consider. Actually really most people aren't. And true some Distro's are easy to use, straight from the get go, but later you still run into problems and a learning curve.

I was going to use Linux for Online College courses, I'm Retired and Disabled. I figured I would try something new and get an even a better education, The College i had decided on told me i had to use Microsoft Office Products. I asked why, what was wrong with Open Office or Libre office. They said if the professors couldn't open the papers i had to email in, that it was a Automatic Flunk on that paper or exam. They only used Microsoft Office Products. Can you afford to take that chance, I can't.

I run XP x64 Bit Professional on one of my machines and it works flawlessly. I also run Windows 7 x64 bit Professional it to works flawlessly. We have eight machines here that run these systems. Were not going to Windows 8, None of us like the interface, Nor do i want my machine to look or behave like some giant phone. I also have some test beds and a machine i designed and built just for Linux, It to runs Flawlessly. And i have never yet used the Command line to do anything. True the UI needs some polish but it works, and that's enough for me. Even my kids have come over and use the Linux machine to browse the Net, and haven't ever used Linux before. That's saying something for Linux, They didn't even know they were using Linux Till i told them.

[mikeawbd]

h82bu, on 14 April 2012 - 04:52 PM, said:

Will never happen because as much as any software company would like you to believe that it's latest and greatest was written from scratch they are not. There are always bits of code re-used and opening that up for the world to view will compromise it's current software.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[mikeawbd]

MichaelRousseau, on 14 April 2012 - 07:28 PM, said:

mike6875, on 14 April 2012 - 04:36 PM, said:

My8 year old Dell 2400 cannot run Win7 I tried,but it runs XP great and I can't afford a new machine.So what are people like me supposed to do?

If it runs XP just great it will run Win8 even better. For what people payed for XP seriously expecting MS to support them forever is not logical. You can pay $20 000 on up to the sky is the limit for a new car. Yet a warranty will not last 10 years or more. Lucky if you get 3 years. So dropping a few hundred for a new OS to replace one that is over ten years old is not unreasonable. You can even partition your drive nad try out Win 8 CP fully supported with updates till early next year on your hardware before you buy it just to make sure it works well on your hardware. Try getting a car company to give you a new car for a year under full warranty for free to try for a year. Not going to happen.

Do you seriously believe that there won't be major driver and software issues jumping from XP to 8? I already have a few older games and software that I have trouble running on Windows 7.

[DanielSunixadmin]

either pony up and purchase windows 7 or man up and load ubuntu - You're going to anyway when China buys MicroSoft in 2017.