Microsoft Attempting to Scare Windows XP Users Straight

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
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Microsoft is upping the ante in its scare campaign to move XP users over to a newer, supported MS operating system before the April 2014 zero date. Trojans and Worms and Bugs, Oh My! :eek:

Since a security update will never become available for Windows XP to address these vulnerabilities, Windows XP will essentially have a 'zero day' vulnerability forever."
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What I ask people is this: Were you using Windows 95 back in 2007? That is how absurd it is to be using Windows XP still.
Move on folks, move on.
 
Udgnim said:
normal people won't know what zero day means
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Or have the smarts to care......

ISPs should be disconnecting any zombie boxes that are on their network and notifying their customers of the issues. MS should partner with these ISPs and offer then discounted upgrades.
 
ISPs should be disconnecting any zombie boxes that are on their network and notifying their customers of the issues. MS should partner with these ISPs and offer then discounted upgrades.
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I do not see this as a viable strategy. First, how are legitimate security professionals supposed to operate honeypots, botnets, etc. in an effort to analyze threats and provide solutions? Second, it would be sending a confusing message on Microsoft's part: get viruses because of our bad coding and we'll give you a discount on newer software with different vulnerabilities because of our bad coding. Not to mention that Microsoft is currently pushing their newest operating system, which has been a mixed bag at best in terms of performance, reliability, ease of use, etc. and it is just too much of a jump for those people still running XP to expect them all to switch to it without negatively impacting their experience. No, Microsoft does not need any hair-brained schemes to drive more users away from Windows 8, they're doing just fine on their own.
 
I meant residential ISPs (those who do not allow servers to be run).

I agree that there should be no discount but you have to entice the elderly couple down the street to upgrade or be made aware of what is going on. We're all effected by these rouge boxes. I'm happy with a quick disconnect but then again my phone would be ringing off the hook from family and friends asking for help...
 
benzino_86 said:
What I ask people is this: Were you using Windows 95 back in 2007? That is how absurd it is to be using Windows XP still.
Move on folks, move on.
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Your response is stupid.

XP hit general availability in late 2001, but continued to be sold in retail until mid 2008, and pre-installed on systems until late 2010.

That means you could have potentially bought a new computer with XP pre-installed up to almost 9 years after XP was released.

So while your example of people using Windows 95 in 2007 seems absurd, that would only be comparable if they had still been selling new computers with Win95 on them as late as 2004, which they obviously were not.
 
benzino_86 said:
What I ask people is this: Were you using Windows 95 back in 2007? That is how absurd it is to be using Windows XP still.
Move on folks, move on.
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While I do think it is a tad crazy there is 1 flaw with your logic there. And that is how long XP was out. And the fact that XP SP 2, while not a new OS by itself did bring about a lot of changes and security changes. Between 95 and 2007 you had lost support for updates on windows 95 long ago, windows 98, 98se, ME, 2000, XP and then finally Vista would have just been getting released that year. You would be running a 10 - 12 year old computer.

Between 2001 and now. You had till 2007 where XP was the only release, but like I said they did release SP2 and make a lot of changes. you then get Vista, 7 and 8. But given that those are back to the reduced timelines and the long amount of time that windows XP was out, lets say you are on a 4 or 5 year pc cycle. You could have got a new machine around the time that Vista came out and and decided to stay with XP to keep everything the same, or even before it came out. And you would just be hitting that time now to buy a new computer. And XP is still being supported by security update. Which is the big thing. This far after its release 95 would have been long cut off from any patches.

I do agree that people should upgrade though.

rudedog said:
Or have the smarts to care......

ISPs should be disconnecting any zombie boxes that are on their network and notifying their customers of the issues. MS should partner with these ISPs and offer then discounted upgrades.
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Actually some of them do. They have a walled garden that they put your connection into, it tells you that you have been infected with a virus and then only allow you access to stuff like sites for your system updates, site for antivirus software, and a few other select sites for malware removal. And might even host a few programs on their landing page theirselves in the event those sites are being blocked by your virus.
 
Why replace a tool that works?

Dirty little secret, XP is going to around forever. It was used in industrial control systems, and requires mega buck hardware, firmware, and software updates to upgrade the OS
 
Here's another trivia item.

Did you know there are computers that have no internet access? Really.

Exactly why do you need update them? That's right, to break your software!

Win8 = $100-$200, custom hardware and software = $500-$500,000
 
Remember the good old days when you could not get a virus unless you deliberately downloaded an executable file, then launched it.

Such a price we pay for having the ability to have dancing hamsters on our screens.
 
Qinsp said:
Why replace a tool that works?

Dirty little secret, XP is going to around forever. It was used in industrial control systems, and requires mega buck hardware, firmware, and software updates to upgrade the OS
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This should scare the crap out of people. Industrial systems have long been built on proprietary software and control interfaces. A lot of the old big iron featured proprietary hardware that wasn't networked, or if it was, it's largely incompatible with current infrastructure. This makes these systems difficult (though not impossible) to hack into.

XP conveniently came with networking very much integrated into the OS and a hacker is a lot more likely to have an old XP box to play with than an old COBOL based Hydro-electric turbine control system...This situation is going to present ever-increasing security vulnerabilities as time goes on.
 
I like how Microsoft words it. It's sounds like this in my head.

Microsoft: I see you using our older OS, and that sucks. It's old, and you should upgrade to our NEW OS. Which happens to suck less.

Linux: We know our OS sucks, but we could really use your help to improve it.

Apple: Fuck you nothing is wrong with our problems. That's a feature! I'll sue you for everyone you own!
 
Kueller said:
This should scare the crap out of people. Industrial systems have long been built on proprietary software and control interfaces. A lot of the old big iron featured proprietary hardware that wasn't networked, or if it was, it's largely incompatible with current infrastructure. This makes these systems difficult (though not impossible) to hack into.

XP conveniently came with networking very much integrated into the OS and a hacker is a lot more likely to have an old XP box to play with than an old COBOL based Hydro-electric turbine control system...This situation is going to present ever-increasing security vulnerabilities as time goes on.
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Wow that might even be significant if industrial controls weren't mostly just LAN if at all.

All the Chinese and NSA guys working a million years couldn't get into my XP machines. LAN only.
 
Ashbringer said:
I like how Microsoft words it. It's sounds like this in my head.

Microsoft: I see you using our older OS, and that sucks. It's old, and you should upgrade to our NEW OS. Which happens to suck less.

Linux: We know our OS sucks, but we could really use your help to improve it.

Apple: Fuck you nothing is wrong with our problems. That's a feature! I'll sue you for everyone you own!
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It seems like you don't like computers... maybe you shouldn't use them
 
"Please buy our new OS with the god-awful UI. Pleeeeeeeeease! It may be painful to use, but we won't fix the problems in the OS you already paid us for, if that provides any additional incentive."
 
I think those that are low on the computer literacy and use scale are going to be the hardest to convince. My grandparents use their computers for little more than email and a little bit of web browsing. Only a few years ago my grandfather upgraded from a Pentium 1 to a used P4 box, but only because the P1 finally died. If a computer works fine and does what they want it to do, they aren't going to change.
 
What exactly is the probability that current Windows XP users read Microsoft Security Blog posts? Is it...zilch?
 
I still have an XP box myself, since ATI All-in-Wonder cards only have decent drivers for Windows XP, and practically all of the analog capture devices released since are crap.
 
I really can't see the reluctance to upgrade. Sure,Vista was a mess,but Windows 7 got it right.
 
Most people still operating on XP don't worry too much about bugs, viruses and such anyway. Most of the people I know either use crappy free AV software, expired AV software, or no AV software at all. They just don't get it.
 
benzino_86 said:
What I ask people is this: Were you using Windows 95 back in 2007? That is how absurd it is to be using Windows XP still.
Move on folks, move on.
Click to expand...

What if I use XP for other things and it is not even connected to the Internet? You people who think you know what is best for others are myopic.
 
rudedog said:
Or have the smarts to care......

ISPs should be disconnecting any zombie boxes that are on their network and notifying their customers of the issues. MS should partner with these ISPs and offer then discounted upgrades.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that wouldn't fly as it'd be considered a predatory business practice and conflict of interests.
 
they should make a Scared Straight TV series out of this like they do with the troublemaking kids who are brought to jail to 'scare them straight'
 
rudedog said:
Or have the smarts to care......

ISPs should be disconnecting any zombie boxes that are on their network and notifying their customers of the issues. MS should partner with these ISPs and offer then discounted upgrades.
Click to expand...

comcast has been using a walled garden system for zombies for years. not entirely effective, and tons of ways to get around it, but it catches quite a few of them.
 
All it will take is a news story about a virus or whatever spreading like wildfire across Windows Machines. You can jump up and down about it being "Windows XP" but all Media with say and/or Consumers will hear is "Windows".

Then Microsoft will have to step in and support it for PR damage Control.
 
If Linux desktop dudes were actually smart, they'd have polished up a Windows XP clone-ish distro that can run on the machines Microsoft abandoned. Although many of those may be too old for most of those distros even.
 
jpm100 said:
If Linux desktop dudes were actually smart, they'd have polished up a Windows XP clone-ish distro that can run on the machines Microsoft abandoned. Although many of those may be too old for most of those distros even.
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There was one for a while.
 
jpm100 said:
If Linux desktop dudes were actually smart, they'd have polished up a Windows XP clone-ish distro that can run on the machines Microsoft abandoned. Although many of those may be too old for most of those distros even.
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Zorin OS may be what you're looking for. You can make it look just like Windows XP or Windows 7.
 
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