Goodbye XP—Enjoy Being a Zombie

Been using Windows 7 (Ultimate 64 bit) since it was released. I have it on two of my pc's and have had no problems with it at all. If Windows 8 & 8.1 is any indication on where Microsoft is heading, I'll be using 7 for quite some time. Between 7 on pc and Mavericks on my macs, I've been pretty happy.

People who are complaining that it's just a way for Microsoft to make more money and force people to upgrade, are you serious? First, of course they want you to buy new product. That is the whole point of Microsoft's (or any other business) existence. Second, XP is THIRTEEN years old. That is like a century in technology years. XP was great, but move on.

OMG I can barely keep the power on let alone buy something new for my XP. I cant even go a flash drive to save everything I have right now which would be horrible to lose. I wonder if they are sitting in back rooms laughing at us and placing bets on how many of us buy flash drives and new computers, or purchase expensive anti virus. This may be something some of you may think oh well this does not affect me personally so I can sit here and just look down my nose at those idiots who used that system in the first place. Not everyone or most of us cant afford Apple or other high end operating systems. I did not even know how to turn a comp on just a few short years ago, did not know that the monitor was not the computer, I mean really. I have problems with my comp right now, wont bother anyone with the particulars, but yeah, for you computer savvy fat cats reading and laughing at me right now, buy me a new one or tell me what to do step by step because I have not figured out any of the instructions for services like mint suggested in computer help. I am computer illiterate and still prefer books and human beings to computer screens and virtual chat rooms, so yeah I am a real life dino not a virtual diva.

XP is the only decent system made by Microsoft in the last couple of decades.

reply to post by antar


As long as your house doesnt burn down or get hit by a drone you wont lose anything. Even if your computer dies on you you still most likely wont lose anything. If you cant run out and pick up external storage don't worry about it. Any flash drive you try to store items on will likely be more volatile than your aging hard drive anyway.

Everything you have is on that hard disc. There is always a way to get the data off of it and move it to something else that doesnt require lots of time or money even if your computer dies.

ETA: If you can have Internet access or can carry your comp to a place that does you can stick the data you want to save up in the "cloud" (god, I hate that term) for free to keep it safe.

Depending on how accommodating/capable the staff is your local library may be willing to help you out with this. Some are great with this stuff and others are either completely clueless or hate their patrons. Still, if you're that worried about it it's worth a shot.

I loved XP!

Windows 7 isn't bad either, but XP and 98 were the best IMO.

Actually, I loved 98 better than XP....lol

I hear windows 8 is terrible, but have never used it so I dunno.

**double post -- see below.

Thurisaz
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

I upgraded to Vista in 2012. XP had problems but after service pack 2 upgrade it was ok. Vista is basically the same, just new name without the errors XP had in the beginning.

It is pathetic that Microsoft are forcing People (Consumers) to upgrade and spend money.

I skipped Vista, but I am now happily using windows 7.

I don't see me having a need for windows 8 yet -- unless it's for a tablet/touch screen device. I've seen tablets with windows 8, and it seems to work well, but it also seems useless to run Windows 8 on a regular laptop.

I have XP and I haven't upgraded it, or downloaded anything for it, ever.

In fact I disabled the automatic downloads the first day I bought the computer.

...so far so good

Now i know why on the 8th of april i got a small pop up on my monitor stating no more microsoft support etc. Yes im still using WIn XP service pack 3 & im sad to hear this news. I had intentions of sticking with win xp till 2020 if i could, now i dont think so.

Imo it's the best Op software ive ever used, and i still have win 98 & win me also have win 2000 lol. I thought win me was good back once, then came win xp.

Bye Win XP

Windows XP users really should just upgrade, these mid-range windows 8 touch screen laptops are great. Quad-core, multiple monitors.

Some people will take a while to re-engineer their thinking of what a computer was and what they are now..

starfoxxx
Windows XP users really should just upgrade, these mid-range windows 8 touch screen laptops are great. Quad-core, multiple monitors.

Some people will take a while to re-engineer their thinking of what a computer was and what they are now..

I ran multiple monitors from my Windows 2000 laptop, so I don't see what Windows 8 has to do with that. The last touch screen tablet I used was made by Lenovo and had a proprietary operating system. But the one application I see people mention Windows 8 for is touch screens; aside from that, I see a lot of comments that people don't like Windows 8 as well as Windows 7.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I switched away from XP a long time ago, it was a solid OS sure.. I did not like Windows 7 at first just because of how different it was, but as I got more familiar with it I realized it really is a superior operating system to XP ..

I had to switch primarily because a lot of software I need to work with doesn't run on XP.. I work in web design/programming and we need the latest IE versions ( even though I hate IE ) ..

But if I ever want to be nostalgic I can run Windows XP in vmware

All Windows start off naff, then by the end they are the best thing since sliced bread.

Windows 3.11 was better than Windows 3 (OK, this example is a bad one as there was monumental differences between the two)

Windows 95 OSR2.5 was far superior to original 95, despite the awful USB support.

Windows 98 SE was far superior to regular 98.

Windows ME is best forgotten about.

Windows XP SP2/3 is light years ahead of Pre SP2 XP.

Windows Vista deserves to be dragged down a dark alley and beaten, although MS did get it running to an acceptable level in the end.

Windows 7 started off poor, but is now at the stage where it is a fine operating system, more so than XP ever was.

And the we have the new boy, Windows 8, it was just awful, that metro screen was a pain to all users, took me a good few minutes just to find the shutdown button.

But then out came the 8.1 update and things just got better, it's fast, it's stable, it runs everything it should, drivers are a dream and if you install the free classic shell software, you even get the start menu back as it should be.

Windows 8.1 has redeemed Microsoft in my eyes (despite my satisfaction with the way Win 7 has turned out, I was still annoyed).

For the record, I'm an IT professional with a HND in Microcomputer engineering and sciences and MCSE Certification ...with over 20 years software, hardware and networking experience.

I'm dual booting XP and Win7 because some of my external hardware doesn't work under 7. In fact, if I hadn't wanted to install some software that didn't work under XP, Win7 would not be there at all even now. I 've never enabled auto update on any machines and have had very few problems by maintaining a good AV and doing regular backups so, in the worst case of an unfixable software problem or HDD dying suddenly (had several of those), I can have the system back up & running sweetly in an hour or so like nothing happened.

I'm currently leaning toward Linux because it just works and does it well plus I got it for the price of a magazine and there's a huge library of free excellent software for just about any application I can think of from science to entertainment and everything in between.

In my opinion, the worst thing to happen to Microsoft was their choice not to just add more stuff to XP, or write a new OS with an architecture and interface of exactly the same type. The reason for this is simple. Business users require simple products, which work all day every day, never kick up a stink, and are easily modified.

XP allowed for all those things, and windows 8 allows for none of that. It is a fortune tellers tent, a flim flam man, a fraudster in a cheap suit, bad shoes, and with a suitcase full of strange wares.

TrueBrit
Business users require simple products, which work all day every day, never kick up a stink, and are easily modified.

XP allowed for all those things, and windows 8 allows for none of that.

Hmmm...

In this office every workstation in 8.1 and a good number of employees using those workstations are essentially tech illiterate.

After a weekend of swapping out all the old XP machines for Windows 8 machines most of the staff didnt even notice we changed things on them.

We're running everything from 30 year old slip printers to brand new hi def scanners without issue.

The one tweak that had to be made was to set some proprietary software to run in compatibility mode for XP.

I'm sure lots of folks are having issues here and there. Anyone who has been alive longer than 15 years has experienced compatibility issues between software and hardware. What I don't believe is that 8 is some horrible crippling economy destroying force as some are making it out to be.

So far I havent not been able to get anything I needed to running. Sure, some stuff is not technically supported or supposed to run but that doesnt mean it wont. It's usually just catchall phrases and limits set by companies covering their asses from lawsuits and complaints.

I can't even believe it's 13+ years that XP has been here with us... I mean when we take into account that our technological advancement actually doubles every two years, how come that XP lasted for so long?
I know the vast majority of users still using XP are from developing-world countries but it does make me wonder.
All in all, I would say that XP has been blocking the computing and technological advancement. I am using Apple's OS X since 2010 and I would never switch back to Windows... as Apple is trying to push updates and all the new stuff every once in a while, the XP updates were usually "under the hood" upgrades and nobody would ever notice a thing after any update.

XP has been a good software to run in 2005 or so, and for playing games few years after 2005 maybe.... then Apple introduced the Snow Leopard (10.6) in 2009 which killed the Windows/Microsoft experience for me/friends/family and since 2010 everyone is slowly migrating to Apple's platform as Microsoft lacks any 'outside the box' ideas or development.

I had a chance to try out Windows 8.1 a week ago and I was horrified.
Windows is doomed and it will prevail the market only because it's stuffed into low-cost computers all around the world.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I have 2 XP machines that are the primary machines of the wife and I. She also has a Nook tablet, but she really only reads on it.

We will replace them in the next 6 months. When we do, we will hold our nose and take the only option available that isn't Apple: Windows 8.

Please, for the love of God....can't someone make an OS that doesn't suck? Really? There is a kingdom awaiting such an entrepreneur.

reply to post by Necrose


in a business environment, the typical attitude about Apple users is that they are "that guy". They don't know how to effect minor adjustments to their machine, and the rest of the world can barely navigate Apple. Everytime I am in meetings with Apple users, the fact that they have Mac OS creates one issue or another.

The business world is a backbone is Unix, with a Windows user network.

MegaSpace
Now i know why on the 8th of april i got a small pop up on my monitor stating no more microsoft support etc. Yes im still using WIn XP service pack 3 & im sad to hear this news. I had intentions of sticking with win xp till 2020 if i could, now i dont think so.

Imo it's the best Op software ive ever used, and i still have win 98 & win me also have win 2000 lol. I thought win me was good back once, then came win xp.

Bye Win XP

You just made me cringe. Windows ME was the worst OS they ever came out with. It was absolutely terrible. XP is good, but I don't understand why anyone would have any issues with Windows 7. It's basically the same thing, runs better than XP does. Vista was fine as well, though granted it was a memory hog.

Even windows 8 is fine. I think most people's issues here are to do with not liking change more than anything else.

ETA: There's a huge difference between an OS being bad and you just not liking features of an OS.