[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Windows XP's Days are Really Numbered Now here

[Evildave]

It's interesting to note the planned obsolescence here.
XP could be the indefinite OS. Just make the 'professional' edition the default one and configure security with user accounts BY DEFAULT, and it would work fine for years and be as secure as Shista.
Nope. Gotta make an incompatible new OS that won't run 'old' software, and release incompatible 'new' software for it so the users 'HAVE TO' pay to upgrade, or they can't run anything 'new' OR use any of their 'old' stuff.

[Grok666]

I like Win XP and as long as I can keep getting the important fixes, I couldn't care less if M$oft stops their basic support since I'm more competent than most of their own support...

But... Vista may have been their worst idea since Win ME, and they really only have one chance to get it right after this since Linux is more user friendly than ever, and Apple is getting more affordable to what used to be the PC only market.

I've worked various tech support jobs since people had Win 95 and Win 98 for common OS's, and I've never heard as many general members of the public swearing they will never own another Windows PC since Vista was released.

Windows 7 better shine like a supernova or M$oft will start going down like the Titanic.

[cold]

Funny how MS thinks the customer has voted wrong in preferring XP to Vista! Thanks to monopoly power, XP will go and Vista and the W7 in all their silly flavours and obsession with eye candy will rule. Long live the free market eh. I will be sticking with XP until I am convinced ... have tried Vista and I am sorry but yeucch!

[JimH443]

I find it interesting that they even mention XP MCE. Since this was sold only in the OEM version, tech support for it never WAS free. If you wanted tech support, you either had to contact the computer menufacturer (who often knew less about XP than you did - and was likely to blame the fact that you modified the computer since the day you bought it) or pay MS each time there was a problem.

[Apollo]

I love using Windows XP, the best
Windows ever. I used Vista for a year,
hated it, removed it from my computer, and went back to XP - all my hardware
works flawlessly with XP and I couldn't be more pleased. Vista by any other name (Windows 7) is still Vista. I plan to stay with XP for a long, long time - support or no support! If, and when I can't use it, I will be moving to Linux or I will buy a Mac.
If Microsoft knew how to respect their customers' wishes, they would gladly support XP indefinitely.

[JimH443]

Apollo said:

If Microsoft knew how to respect their customers' wishes, they would gladly support XP indefinitely.

It's been my experience that Microsoft never gladly supported XP. MCE is one prime example. It's a version that was released specifically to pawn off their responsibility to support XP. There have always been OEM versions of OS's as long as I can recall. Microsoft has never accepted the responsibility of supporting them. However, up until MCE there was always a Retail version that could be had. This was not true with MCE.

[ClaudeD]

Microsoft management obviously does not listen to its customers, they are duplicating Vista in Windows 7. XP was and still is an excellent operating system. Evidently microsoft has plenty of money to lose and doensn't mind pushing people to Linux. Linux is close and programs like Open Office prove it. As far as Microsoft support, google advanced search is better and faster. Good job MS keep ignoring customers wants and needs soon you won't be number 1, Open Office FREE is a great start. XP great job, Vista with a Quad Core CPU, 4+ gig of ram and sata about as fast as XP on a 1.9 ghz computer.

[sjeffreya]

It's a sad state of affairs when people are still ordering the XP OS in their new PC's and Laptop's, yet Microsoft is putting XP on life support. It is undeniably the best OS they have created. Just like the old diesel Mercedes that would get a grill badge for every 100,000 miles it traveled. It was not unusal to see one with 10 badges. Not anymore. Those owners didn't buy new cars every 3-4 years. Same deal with XP. It works too good, warts and all compared to Vista, "Mojave", or Windows 7. Their all the same thing. Regardless of what Redmond says, it's time for change in their Cash Register!

[oldschoolh4ck3r]

A car that runs on 5 wheels ain't any better than one that runs on 4. But that's comparable to what Microsoft is saying about Windows 7 vs. XP. There's NO reason why they couldn't release a major upgrade to XP for a reasonable charge instead of forcing everyone to empty the bank to switch to a new OS.

[Nestor]

Yes, the days are numbered. Not for windows xp. It is for microsoft windows.

[obviocapitao]

As far as Microsoft operating systems go, XP was good enough for me.
If Microsoft doesn't want to support XP, people will move to Linux.

[ktrumble]

If Adobe software ran on Linux there's a 50/50 chance I'd drop Windows. If a dozen other companies put out their software for Linux then it's a certainty that I would dump Windows.
For now I'm sticking with XP.

[eMJay]

Windows XP will be around for a while. It's the best OS that MS has ever made and it's also the most pirated OS that MS has ever made.
There's only one way that MS can force XP off most computers and that's to somehow find a way to accelerate the migration of programming to a pure 64 bit environment. Most copies of XP are of the 32-bit version of the OS, and if all mainstream windows software sold today became 64-bit only, users would be forced to upgrade to a 64-bit OS. Thankfully, there's no way for MS to realistically accomplish that feat. Businesses still heavily rely on 32-bit processing, and in this economic environment, nobody's going to completely overhaul their business environment just to please MS.

[MarioJP]

I really dont see whats the fuss is about. I upgraded to vista 64 and no slowdowns or any issues like most are saying. But anyways XP is going to be around a lot longer than one might think. maybe even beyond 2012 (that is if the world doesn't end LOL). If you read the article right ms will stop supporting xp in those time frame, and windows 7 would have launched already. And as far as windows 7 goes looks like people are loving it and its not a repeat a vista (even though i have no issues with it but oh well that is the mindset and the damage is done).

As far as Linux goes its just going to be a open source community used for servers mostly and maybe on the desktop and not just small users either but as the whole computer market. Apple in the other hand as it is gaining marketshare be interests to see how people can deal with a simplified computer all in one because i personally wouldn't replace my desktop custom built gaming rig for a imac. As for notbooks and netops goes well good thing there are choices between windows linux and macbooks.

So i really don't see whats the fuss is all about. I left xp when i realized that these newer games are requiring more than 1gb of ram. 32 bit just doesn't cut it anymore. What ms should do is focus more on 64 bit and forget about 32 bit. Only problem i see if they do that people will come out of their caves and complain about why 32 bit is not being supported.

Wake up people this is 2009 and 32 should seriously go. I have left the 32 bit era one year ago and have not looked back at xp. I now keep xp on a virtual machine for tech support issues for those that are still on xp.

I am turning off email notification to this thread and i am going to go elsewhere pretty soon because pcworld is losing a lot of its credibility

[WinTard]

I know how you feel.

I happen to think like you, all the bashers are useless except a mere nuisance. Paraistes!

I have zero problems over one year of Vista x64. I never tried the XP x64. And I love the new Windows 7 x64.

[rgreen4]

I have XP on an old laptop I take out where I don't want to expose my nice Vista laptop, and an old XP desktop that gets booted once a month or so, my main and secondary machines are Vista. I have been on Vista for almost two years now and would really hate to go back. It would be like suddenly giving up my current car and going back to a 2001 model.

For most of the last year, I have been offering those who complain about this and that in Vista the opportunity to post the problems they were having with Vista on their machine. I had one who said I misunderstood, that he had wiped Vista off the HD in his new machine without ever booting it and installed XP. He actually admitted he had never used it. I had one post actual problems (Norton's Internet Security) with software not Vista, and no other responses. I do like your term for them.

Now that MS has announced the end of mainstream support for XP on April 14, which means after that date there will be 5 more years of free security updates, but no product improvement updates, we will start to see XP really disappear.

[DQuin413]

I really don't understand why everyone craps all over Vista; i've used it for over a year(MyPC bought in '07 came with it installed) and I haven't seen any problems with it...Guess I'm the exception!!

[savior]

The only reason MS is doing this is to make people switch over to Windows 7 when the time comes, It wouldn't surprise me if MS sends a XP virus that makes you have to buy Windows 7. Windows 7 is going to be a FAIL grade like its sister Vista. Therefore XP will still in some ways kick Window 7's butt. Just because its not flashy. Learn from Mac...make things simple

[WinTard]

Thank you for the feedback reconfirming my suspicions that all the noise only comes from people belonging to SIG (Special Interest Group) whose purpose is spreading FEAR and FUD just as a marketing deceptive ploy. They are probably employed by such deceptive companies basing their entire strategy on hype, perception, and the jump-on-the-bandwagon factor targeted at the neophyte computer enthusiast crowd.

Problem is that never works, as evidenced by market share distribution over the last thirty years.

So every once in a while, they come up with more of the same, over-and-over again.

Annoying isn't it? I now look it philosophically: It's hilarious!

Bottom line reality is: There are NO (major) problems with Vista at all. With all due respects, 99.99% of the problems root cause is sitting between the chair and keyboard.

~~~~~~~~~~
Those who can, do; those who can't b!t@#!
~ Yet another WinTarded observation of a truth :^0