Windows XP: Is It Time to Move On?

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
XP is arguably one of the best operating systems ever to come out of Microsoft. There is no wonder why many would like to hold onto XP forever, but unfortunately technology stands still for no one. Many feel Microsoft is going to regret not including IE9 for XP in the long run.

If Microsoft was just arbitrarily choosing to lock out XP users for no real reason, I’d be the first to object. But this isn’t the case here. Microsoft wants to add hardware acceleration to the browser, and to do that it has chosen to use Direct2D APIs, something that isn’t available on XP.
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Been using Windows 7 over the past year after switching from XP. XP can DIAF. 7 has made my life sooooo much easier.
 
Many? Doubtful. Plus, if it really is 'many,' then they probably aren't knowledgable enough to make a claim that a company is going to regret it.
 
I like Windows 7 (and I liked Vista too - despite other people's complaints it ran way better for me than XP did). On the other hand I'm not sure where the author gets the idea that Direct2D doesn't exist for Windows XP. I clearly remember running DirectX9 (which includes Direct2D, in fact 2D was one of the earliest features of DirectX) on Windows XP back in the day.
 
My customers still have a lot of 3rd party software that the Devs refuse to make compaitble with Visa or 7, pisses me off
 
It's beyond time to move on. It is not Microsoft's responsibility to provide free lifetime updates to people that don't want to be bothered to keep up. If you won't run the latest OS why do you need the latest Office and the latest browser?
 
EricFX1984 said:
this...



sounds like lazy devs
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True but you'd want to think that dev's would see the wisdom in having an upgrade path in place at least should the client ask about it.

I work for the City of Dallas and they are JUST now letting us upgrade end users to IE7. And that is with the caveat that they don't have to use one of the web-tools that's been in place forever. If they do we can't install it. Cause it no workie.

So in the big picture I don't see a problem with IE9 not being XP capable. If somebody needs what IE9 has to offer then ideally they're already using something better than XP.
 
Seriously? 7 makes XP look like 3.1

Let XP die already. It was a great OS and has served us well. Let it go with dignity.
 
I've been plugging away on XP since 2002 and have JUST started the "considering it" process for upgrading to 7.

Maybe before the end of the year.
 
If Microsoft wanted to build IE9 ground up on D2D then I have no problem with that. I don't like shoehorned software.
 
Ualdayan said:
I like Windows 7 (and I liked Vista too - despite other people's complaints it ran way better for me than XP did). On the other hand I'm not sure where the author gets the idea that Direct2D doesn't exist for Windows XP. I clearly remember running DirectX9 (which includes Direct2D, in fact 2D was one of the earliest features of DirectX) on Windows XP back in the day.
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You remember DirectDraw which Direct2D supersedes. There was some interoperability between DirectDraw and Direct3d that was added in DX8 but it's very limited and wasn't used that much, while Direct2D can interact with GDI, GDI+ along with Direct3D.
 
The bad part comes from the fact this wont get many to switch from XP (those are still using it) to win7 or Vista just to use IE9 and will in the long run be infected with tons of malware down the road. Remember XP not getting upgraded to IE8?
 
The only people who aren't going to move away from XP are corporate. They can continue to use IE6 and continue to use their current internal sites without paying developers to make them work on newer browsers. I always thought Microsoft should release a new stand alone IE6 for these types of customers but I doubt that will happen. Instead, people who need to access corporate sites from their own machines will run XP IE6 in a VM.
 
Even though I'm planning on another box in the future so I can run 7 x64, I don't care about IE9 not being for XP. I use Opera nearly exclusively. It works perfectly fine on XP.

IE is used solely for Patch Tuesday for me.
 
k1pp3r said:
My customers still have a lot of 3rd party software that the Devs refuse to make compaitble with Visa or 7, pisses me off
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This is the only reason to still be using XP. Its also usually the reason some businesses take so long to switch to new OSs (mine included).
 
No, no it's not. I don't have a lot of experience with Win7, but Vista is even more worthless than ME was.
 
no if people are happy with it
keep it why upgrade
it will be on them to secure the os and get the drivers and updated software for it on their own however
 
k1pp3r said:
My customers still have a lot of 3rd party software that the Devs refuse to make compaitble with Visa or 7, pisses me off
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Ever tried to get IPX network protocol to work in Vista 64? Can't do it. What the hell is the point of removing this? 99% of the time you'll never use IPX, but it isn't like it's going to be detrimental to my HDD space if you left it alone. You can still use a US Robotics external serial modem though, thank god for that!
 
I wonder if in ten years well be having this same discussion only it'll be people that won't want to move away from Windows 7?
 
niconx said:
The only people who aren't going to move away from XP are corporate.
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QFT

Add to XP all the outdated applications that a number of Corporations are still using such as Office 97 (still...), Lotus (Suite, Notes, 1-2-3, etc..) and an archaic compilation of 16 Bit applications (not DOS but Win3x). Because of these a number of Corporations have "legacy baggage" that they refuse to migrate away from (or virtualize). I've heard a fair amount of grumbling from people in IT at various companies (Developers, Admins, etc..) that they can't migrate to 64-bit to solve the problems "processor intensive users" are experiencing because general office users are holding them back.

If you really want to open a can of worms, talk to anyone who develops web based Java apps about "legacy" issues with older applications when the latest versions of Java are rolled out. Web clients were supposed to reduce overhead...
 
XP was better than Vista but once using 7 you really do not want to go back to XP ever.
 
k1pp3r said:
You have no idea how lazy and stupid most 3rd party devs are. Half the time they can't fix their own crap, i have to
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QFT. The worst part of my job is dealing with third-party software issues. No, wait. The worst part is when a client calls a third-party developer and then I have to convince both of them that Acrobat is not causing their code-held-together-with-bailing-wire to fall apart.
 
i'm waiting to see if go SSD this winter before i switch to windows seven, i really hate having to re-install all my apps and tweaks very often.
 
k1pp3r said:
You have no idea how lazy and stupid most 3rd party devs are. Half the time they can't fix their own crap, i have to
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thats cause half the time these 'devs' are nothing more than kids looking stuff up in a book
 
BaldHeadedDork said:
QFT. The worst part of my job is dealing with third-party software issues. No, wait. The worst part is when a client calls a third-party developer and then I have to convince both of them that Acrobat is not causing their code-held-together-with-bailing-wire to fall apart.
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duct tape and super glue as well
 
As decent as Windows XP is, it can't survive forever.

I'm already missing a lot of administrator-features in the corporate world supported under Group Policies with Windows Vista and 7, that aren't under XP. While you can redirect user documents to the server, you can't do Favorites unless you have Vista or XP. While I can deploy printers from a print server to XP via Group Policy, I can't set them as default via that same policy unless I have Vista or 7, and I have to add a login script to XP to push the printers out that I wouldn't with Vista or 7. Those are just a few things missing by not moving on.

Unfortunately, deployment of Vista and 7 is completely different. This isn't necessarily bad, but it requires additional training, something a lot of cash-strapped organizations are reluctant to pay for.

In the end, Windows 7 will take over the desktop, and it has been, and will be a worthy successor.
 
Trimlock said:
The bad part comes from the fact this wont get many to switch from XP (those are still using it) to win7 or Vista just to use IE9 and will in the long run be infected with tons of malware down the road. Remember XP not getting upgraded to IE8?
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Nonsense. There's a reason Firefox became popular, and that was a direct result of IE's reputation getting tainted due to exploits and lack of a popup blocker. You think a typical XP user, who everyone told to use Firefox instead of IE is going to care that IE9 is out? Nope. Most are on older systems, who don't need Windows 7 until they get a new system.

And as far as malware goes, that has very little to do with the OS, and more to do with user stupidity, and a new OS won't change that. Drive-by exploits will get fixed, but making granny malware proof is impossible.
 
EricFX1984 said:
thats cause half the time these 'devs' are nothing more than kids looking stuff up in a book
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Or their beancounters aren't willing to pay the development costs. Too often, cost-cutting measures hold companies back from making vital improvements.

Also, it can be because some best practices weren't followed, leading to code that requires a user to run an app as local administrator (really tired of this one), or dependencies on legacy cruft that should have been eliminated years ago.
 
Ualdayan said:
On the other hand I'm not sure where the author gets the idea that Direct2D doesn't exist for Windows XP. I clearly remember running DirectX9 (which includes Direct2D, in fact 2D was one of the earliest features of DirectX) on Windows XP back in the day.
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You're thinking of DirectDraw, Direct2D is something very different.

DirectDraw has been a part of DirectX since forever, but Direct2D is very new.
 
EricFX1984 said:
thats cause half the time these 'devs' are nothing more than kids looking stuff up in a book
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Last i checked, Frontrange wast NOT some kid with a book, they are a major corp and they can't fix Goldmine worth a crap
 
havent touched IE since version 6 and its people who dont upgrade that hurt the pc industry by holding onto there old P 4's. My average customer pc i work on is a P4 3.0 ghz 512 mb of ram 128 video and a 120 gig hdd...
 
well, I'm lazy. not that lazy since I make regular backups and duplicate every hard disc, but I always thought XP does its job and it would be sufficient for years to come. I let the crappiness that is vista pass and even though vista has matured and windows 7 is even more optimized, it looked like I still didn't need to upgrade.

since I can get a student's licence for 8 euros, I tried it - and never looked back.

yea, XP is ancient. it works, but windows 7 works better. and I don't know why people hate the UAC so much (the windows thing, not doom). I turned it up to max and it's a great feature that doesn't bother me.

people get attached to stuff, upgrade to a new box with over 9000 mhz and want to keep old ass hardware "that is still good" that doesn't even have drivers for vista, install ancient legacy software that isn't compatible with anything and can be a huge security risk and then blame the OS for sucking. I absolutely hate legacy stuff. I still find floppy connectors on x58 mainboards! there may be some reasons why you still need to run some really old app, but just run it in a VM or whatever. XP is on life support - please, pull the plug. thanks.
 
temujin987 said:
XP is on life support - please, pull the plug. thanks.
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Pulling the plug comes in the form of new standards that aren't supported on the older OS. Direct X 11, Direct2D, hardware rendering support in the browser, and so on. You can't just "pull the plug", that's impossible. It will take a few years to slowly be phased out.
 
k1pp3r said:
Last i checked, Frontrange wast NOT some kid with a book, they are a major corp and they can't fix Goldmine worth a crap
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One of our customers actually had a Goldmine support guy whom they were paying fairly decently per month, and 99% of his responses were "call Frontrange".

While we still don't do Goldmine support, we've found that customer a better alternative to that guy.

I suppose the nice thing about Goldmine is that it sits on the server, so whenever we do new systems for the customer there's no worrying about emails being transferred over properly, or contacts lost, etc. All we have to do is transfer documents, favorites, and desktop.
 
fightingfi said:
havent touched IE since version 6 and its people who dont upgrade that hurt the pc industry by holding onto there old P 4's. My average customer pc i work on is a P4 3.0 ghz 512 mb of ram 128 video and a 120 gig hdd...
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It works for them, though. I see a lot of that day-in and day-out. All they want is to get their email and play solitaire or do MyFaceSpaceBook.
 
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