Windows XP Still The Dominant OS

[Zarathustra[H]]

And don't let the dropping of support that's around the corner for XP influence you. People are still using win2k, win 98 and DOS!

I'm not looking forward to this. Zombie XP botnets are bad enough as it is, imagine XP no longer being patched for security...

 

[beowulf7]

The real question is that once Windows 8 comes out (let's say Oct. 2012), when will it surpass Windows XP? I'd say maybe a year after Win 8's SP1 is out (probably in 2H2013, my guess).

 

[Master Blaster]

The real question is that once Windows 8 comes out (let's say Oct. 2012), when will it surpass Windows XP? I'd say maybe a year after Win 8's SP1 is out (probably in 2H2013, my guess).

It may never if people stay on, or migrate to Windows 7.

 

[night_2004]

I'm kind of thinking W7 is going to become the next XP. No reason to move away from it yet, and its successor (W8 instead of Vista this time) looks like its going to be a turd.

 

[beowulf7]

It may never if people stay on, or migrate to Windows 7.

True, just like Vista has never and probably will never surpass XP.

But I think as old computers running XP die, people will eventually upgrade to 8 once 7 isn't available from vendors like Dell, HP, etc. I'm sure for a while, they'll provide an option of 7 or 8, but eventually, the training wheels will come off.

 

[aronesz]

I'm kind of thinking W7 is going to become the next XP. No reason to move away from it yet, and its successor (W8 instead of Vista this time) looks like its going to be a turd.

Donno if I would say that. W8 looks like an Office 2007-->2010 scenario. There are very few differences between 2007 and 2010 visually and functionally, and likewise Windows 8 is essentially the same. You don't have to use the touchscreen optimized Explorer shell/GUI, and can use Windows 8 just like 7 (looks the same, is the same). One improvement they made, at least in my eyes, is the ribbon for the Explorer interface when browsing folders and such.

 

[Azhar]

I'm kind of thinking W7 is going to become the next XP. No reason to move away from it yet, and its successor (W8 instead of Vista this time) looks like its going to be a turd.

That's a bad comparison. XP lasted so long simply because there wasn't anything else available for 7 years, not because the next alternative was worse.

 

[Monkey God]

That's a bad comparison. XP lasted so long simply because there wasn't anything else available for 7 years, not because the next alternative was worse.

You saying Vista wasn't worse? (For the average consumer or business?)

 

[night_2004]

That's a bad comparison. XP lasted so long simply because there wasn't anything else available for 7 years, not because the next alternative was worse.

OK, fine. XP was here for longer. But Vista still sucked and that added another year or two to XP's lifespan.

 

[Azhar]

You saying Vista wasn't worse? (For the average consumer or business?)

I didn't say that. Night_2004 thinks Windows 7 is going to be the next XP, meaning people will hang on to XP for a long long time. XP didn't exist a long time because nobody wanted to move on to the next OS. It existed a long time because there HASN'T been anything else for a long time. Vista notwithstanding.

 

[Azhar]

OK, fine. XP was here for longer. But Vista still sucked and that added another year or two to XP's lifespan.

Haha, yeah I figured that's what you meant too. But honestly, Vista only had a rough start because there was nothing like it before. XP had 2000 to mature from and even then it was plagued with a rough start.

Vista's actually pretty good now. A handful of our company computers are still using Vista Business.

 

[cthulhuiscool]

I use xp just because it uses like no system resources and I'm currently living off an old amd athlon system until I decide to buy a new pc

 

[siliconnerd]

Anyone know what the support timeline is going to be for Windows XP for Embedded Systems is going to be? Turns out Microsoft is allowing sale of this until December 2016. I know a lot of high end Agilent and Tektronix test equipment still are selling new with it, and don't support anything newer.

 

[XamediX]

I didn't say that. Night_2004 thinks Windows 7 is going to be the next XP, meaning people will hang on to XP for a long long time. XP didn't exist a long time because nobody wanted to move on to the next OS. It existed a long time because there HASN'T been anything else for a long time. Vista notwithstanding.

Careful, you do know that you are debating with a monkey.... right?

Haha, yeah I figured that's what you meant too. But honestly, Vista only had a rough start because there was nothing like it before. XP had 2000 to mature from and even then it was plagued with a rough start.

Vista's actually pretty good now. A handful of our company computers are still using Vista Business.

Shhh, don't bring such logic and informed opinion to these forums? Vista sucked! End of Story!

 

[XamediX]

I use xp just because it uses like no system resources and I'm currently living off an old amd athlon system until I decide to buy a new pc

I remember when I went from XP to Windows 7 64bit Beta on my AMD X2 3200+ w/ 2gb of DDR ram. It ran better than XP did. I was surprised to say the least.

 

[PornoSatan]

So bascially you act like a hermit when it comes to your computer?

I think less is better. Also, it's easier to spot changes to your system when it's running under a minimal environment in the first place. That's not to say I don't have anything installed at all, I have quite a bit from trusted vendors. It's not like I'm sitting on some fresh windows install refusing to install anything. But I do think the modern idea of not caring about what's running on a system because computers are becoming so fast and ram so large isn't a solution at all. I don't think software is special, and just because I can install more doesn't mean I should.

Here's what I do, trusted vendor software that I know I'll keep is installed onto the primary system. Any software that uses a commonly exploited platform, such as Java or is random software from an unknown vendor i'm just testing out for a task gets virtualized.

This, how do you know that you don't have any infections if you aren't running any scanning software that can detect them?

I do run software like that. I have a long list of AutoRuns logs going back to 2008, and for active on demand monitoring I use tools like Process Explorer, Process Monitor, TCPView, RootRepeal and a few other rootkit tools.

You have heard of a rootkit right?

Yes ofcourse.

And, is yours the only computer behind this router?

If there are other clients, can they be trusted not to click on something that installs malware on their machines, thus leaving your XP box vulnerable to their machine on the local network?

I don't have any active shares, and actually use a little software firewall for things like this. If anything, this would be how I get infected as I'm not as familiar with worm type activity across networks, but I do know the essentials. Even though I'm sitting on XP SP3, and am secure against older worms just from the updates alone, I'm not as up to date on the latest worms or what services they exploit to spread, so I just kind of firewall the entire front off to any potential attacks on the network level.

 

[PornoSatan]

Also, when scanning this system via nmap from other networked system, it yields no open ports. So I'm pretty content with that. Really though, none of this would be possible if it multiple people used it, because that's really where the insecurity lies. It's possible to secure XP, but I trust very few people other than myself to actually do it. It is better if people just go to Windows 7.

 

[Makaveli@BETA]

Also, when scanning this system via nmap from other networked system, it yields no open ports. So I'm pretty content with that. Really though, none of this would be possible if it multiple people used it, because that's really where the insecurity lies. It's possible to secure XP, but I trust very few people other than myself to actually do it. It is better if people just go to Windows 7.

while I still think you are flirting with danger I like the way you explained it and I follow your logic.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

try giving them the line that if they dont the "terrorists" can hack there systems and they will be down for months as they clean that up
or they can be down for a day and have more secure system lol

Many of the systems are on isolated networks with no connection to the outside world. The only real threats are USB key based infections and everyone thinks they can control those. Trust me, we try to sell upgrades but it is a cascading effect. Want to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 from 2003? Sure, just the cost of the machine (~$5k) . . . and since most of the software versions you are currently using won't run on 2008, you'll need to upgrade those too ($20k+) .

And Win8 is on the heels....

Every time I come across an XP machine I cringe. I'm thankful to work for a company that has completely phased out XP and is all Win 7 and Linux.

PCMusicGuy, you mentioned legacy software, which is quite quite prevalent in oil production and other fields like medical, production, and manufacturing. My father is a geophysicist who specializes in finding oil. All of his rigs are on XP. He still has software, backups, and data from the late 1990s. Is actually quite appalling, but totally understandable. I think some of these companies definitely get pigeonholed into staying with a specific software platform because as you said, money either makes or breaks decisions. If it's not broke, why fix it?

I know Microsoft really pushed for their 'XP mode' on Windows 7 to make the migration more palatable...I wonder how that turned out - lol.

I don't see that trend going away completely anytime soon, but many of the big Oil companies are now implementing upgrade cycles for OS and hardware. That's a step in the right direction for sure. I know how XP mode turned out . . . I now use VM Ware workstation.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Many of the systems are on isolated networks with no connection to the outside world. The only real threats are USB key based infections and everyone thinks they can control those.

I'm sure the Iranians at the secret nuclear facility attacked by stuxnet thought they could too

 

[Ryokurin]

The real question is that once Windows 8 comes out (let's say Oct. 2012), when will it surpass Windows XP? I'd say maybe a year after Win 8's SP1 is out (probably in 2H2013, my guess).

I don't think anything ever will because nothing will be on the market as long anymore now that Microsoft is sticking with their original 3 year upgrade plan.

 

[GreenMonkey]

M Sure, just the cost of the machine (~$5k) . . . and since most of the software versions you are currently using won't run on 2008, you'll need to upgrade those too ($20k+) .

Yeah, I don't think people understand how these things cascade in the corporate environment.

You guys think XP is old? No, that's modern tech compared to VMS 5.5 on
55mhz and 83/90mhz VAXstations (which date from 1991-94-ish).

Not easy to pull this stuff out of plant production, rework the hardware, find programmers to write code to interface with the plant equipment, etc. Not cheap at all. They told me VMS a dead technology and was going away posthaste when I started here 11 years ago.

Lot of this kind of legacy tech in a corporate environment, or a production environment. XP isn't really that old...it's still well-supported, after all.

 

[Elios]

Yeah, I don't think people understand how these things cascade in the corporate environment.

You guys think XP is old? No, that's modern tech compared to VMS 5.5 on
55mhz and 83/90mhz VAXstations (which date from 1991-94-ish).

Not easy to pull this stuff out of plant production, rework the hardware, find programmers to write code to interface with the plant equipment, etc. Not cheap at all. They told me VMS a dead technology and was going away posthaste when I started here 11 years ago.

Lot of this kind of legacy tech in a corporate environment, or a production environment. XP isn't really that old...it's still well-supported, after all.

my Aunt works for corp that makes Process control software/hardware if you have head of it called the D3 they also used to sell SCADA system called the S/3
any way they used VMS for a long time but dropped it when compaq dropped support for the Alpha and moved to NT they had for bit used NT for Alpha
but i think they are mostly still NT4.0 and win 2k but i hear there sloooowly moving to 7 for workstation

the PCMs are all running Pentiums in them XD i think not sure how long supply will hold on on that they had 386 chips in them till ~2000 lol but the PCM cabinets didnt need much

 

[pinoy]

Anyone want to start conversing about Linux with me?

 

[beowulf7]

I don't think anything ever will because nothing will be on the market as long anymore now that Microsoft is sticking with their original 3 year upgrade plan.

Yeah, I'm thinking that as well. I wish MS wasn't in such a rush to push out OSs. I wouldn't mind if they did a 4-year cycle instead of 3. But MS wants to make as much $ as possible, which I understand. I doubt most people simply upgrade their OSs if it's not needed (i.e., without also upgrading their hardware).