[Jerry H.]

I asked my computer guru about this. Here is his explanation: As of April, Microsoft is no longer going to support Windows XP. What that means is that they will not give any support on their website, including the free Microsoft security updates. He also anticipates that shortly all of the anti-virus companies will not support XP, so if you get a virus you will be screwed. HOWEVER, the world is not coming to an end. You can still run XP as long as you don't need any Microsoft services. Your computer is not going to shut down on April 1. It will be a good time to consider updating to Windows 7 or 8.

He says that Windows 8 now has most of all the bugs worked out of it, you just have to get used to working with it.

[cuz68]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Precicisly the reason NOT to have your home - any everything else - connected and controlled by an Operating System with the is designed built-in obsolescence as you see blanket advertised for everything in your life: Home Security, Lighting, HVAC, "Smart Appliances", Garage Door Openers, et al that XFin, etc. are all advertising to do now. Not to mention the hacking and data mining extravaganza potentials...

Built-in scraping of perfectly working household hardware due to "system support ending" seems counter to the whole "green" using less materials, energy, etc.

This applies to all MS, Apple iOS, etc. OP systems IMO...as pointed out in this very thread.

Hell Alvin we all know that, It is not the end of time Just a old computer server that is going away, There will be some one else that will step up.

[cuz68]

Originally Posted by Dennis H.

Get used to the planned obsolescence of anything using technology to operate. It is being put in all the newer cars, and most of them will become obsolete in only a few years after purchase. You will no longer be able to purchase a car and hope to keep it for 10 years, as most of its electronics will not be supported. And since most of todays auto electronics are vin number specific, you will not be able to go to a salvage yard for an electronic used part. Welcome to our new world.

I guess that is why thay give you a life time warranty when you buy a new car right?

[KS circutguy]

Can I run Windows 7 on my PC?
This will tell you.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...pgrade-advisor

[KS circutguy]

Also and this is the real problem running XP after March...
Microsoft predicts bleak future for XP users after patches run out

In a blog post, a senior Microsoft executive has warned users of Windows XP to get a move on and upgrade to shinier, newer versions of Windows.

The post, by Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Director Tim Rains, points out that after the end of official support for XP, on 08 April 2014, the company will be basically forced to pass on details of likely XP vulnerabilities to potential attackers, without providing users with the means to defend themselves.

One risk is that attackers will have the advantage over defenders who choose to run Windows XP because attackers will likely have more information about vulnerabilities in Windows XP than defenders.

The problem is, of course, that once patches stop being provided for newly-discovered vulnerabilities, any problems that are found for more recent versions may well be backwards-compatible with XP.

As details of these issues will be widely publicised, for very good reasons, there's bound to be plenty of research going on into which ones can be used to penetrate the systems of anyone still clinging on to XP.

Indeed, some people have already speculated that the bad guys will soon be stockpiling newly-found bugs until after the patch deadline, building up an arsenal of woes to unleash on those too lazy, poor, or stuck in their ways to upgrade.

Once the April 2014 deadline has passed, the world of Windows XP will be a perpetual zero-day, with no hope of relief from danger.

It's clearly in Microsoft's interest to spread maximum fear, to squeeze as much revenue as they can out of Windows users who will have to pay to step up to Windows 7 or 8. But their warnings do carry considerable weight.

In operating system terms, XP is pretty ancient, having been released in 2001 and reaching the end of its standard back in 2009. When the five-year extended support phase ends the platform will have very nearly reached its teens.

It remains remarkably popular though, with the best available stats putting it on anywhere from 13 to 30% of systems browsing the web - well overtaken by Windows 7 nowadays, but still streets ahead of Windows 8. Its stability, simplicity and familiarity will make it hard to dislodge from a huge residual user base.

This has led to some speculation that Microsoft might relent and extend the support period further, but this seems unlikely. As Rains also points out in his blog piece, even with regular patching, the security provisions in XP just don't cut it any more, leaving its users open to all sorts of dangers they would be immune from out-of-the-box with less creaky platforms.

In general, we always recommend keeping everything fully patched and updated. So, when that is no longer a viable option, I guess the advice will have to be to upgrade to something which is actually patchable.

That's not going to be easy though, and not just for sentimental reasons.

The financial impact of mass upgrading is likely to play a major factor here. In the home user world, a lot of people upgrade their operating systems by default when they upgrade their hardware.

Those on more limited budgets may have been keeping the same rickety old machines wheezing along for years though. If all you're doing is browsing Wikipedia, emailing and occasionally Skype-ing the grandkids, you're not going to need the latest super-speedy machine with 8GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.

The same goes for business users too; if something has been doing the job just fine for years and shows no sign of needing replacing, there's got to be a considerable reason to spend money replacing it. With a lot of businesses struggling to survive in tough markets, these additional costs are going to have very low priority.

Bigger firms may have policies in place to ensure legacy systems are updated promptly, but even some of them are likely to lag in places, to say nothing of the huge numbers of smaller, less organised firms running from a few to a few hundred PCs with only the most basic IT skills to support them.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by KS circutguy

Guy's it's a 12 year old OS.
It's old slow insecure compared to Windows 7.
BTW; Windows 7 actually uses less system resources than XP did.
It scales very well, meaning it knows the CPU - memory - video of the system it's being installed on.
It's cheap at $76.98, get the OEM full versions, not upgrade versions.Get 64 bit for systems with more than 3 gig of memory, 32 bit for less than 3 gig memory.
You'll be glad you did! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Wi...-/111251223634
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116986
Also Windows 7 is still the preferred OS of geeks and gamers.
Of course there's always Ubuntu still free as always.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Best post here. If you think anything electronic is meant to last twelve years, you may need to rethink somethings.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Old Blue 66

Best post here. If you think anything electronic is meant to last twelve years, you may need to rethink somethings.

Get your point, but IMO your broad casting of a fishnet topic descriptor is flawed. Ex: The AM/FM factory stereo in our '67 GTO works fine, lasted way past 12yrs, same with so much electronic test equipment, Hi-Fidelity equipment, etc. and so.... Not picking a fight, sure you get my point,so no worries.

Now where your 12yr life cycle does come into play is with "modern" vehicles, such as (again) the software. The Vag-Com Software I use on our VW/Audi CEL will have to be maintained on a compatible diagnostic unit (pc). The cars do age, most often the software doesn't for the particular model installed.

National news tonight showed Headsup display that will be available with video capture and replay on 2015 Corvettes looks just like a Forsa 4 in-car view video game. So that's partially where this is heading car wise.

As to XP, The chip speeds, etc. are the, have always been, restriction in OP performance pipeline as software requires more and more HP.

...one could draw an analogistic paralleling the current fuel "corn E-10/E-15 improvements" degradation rendering a perfectly good working hardware power supply (drive train) in a '67 GTO inoperable due to fuel incapatability w those same goals designed to make all computer, and household goods obsolete in one manner or another.

"On-Star, throw a CEL warning and kill the vehicle CPU w an unsupported software virus! Timed obsolescence, and time for the minion user to purchase a new one!"

Lots to love about analog these days.

[NBF823]

Good luck with launching space probes if electronics can't last 12 yrs. And forget about the new era of muscle cars being worth anything.

This is more about using xp online anyway.

It still looks like I'm keeping xp for megasquirt and mach 3.

[gregneun]

Thanks KS for the MS test link. Some problems with this machine when I ran the test. It said I need to install the 32 bit win7 and re-install programs. Well, this is an older Dell unit and the programs were preloaded, many I don't need anyway. I reset this one back to factory when I got it second hand. It's served it's purpose.

Think I'll do TurboTax one last year on this machine and get a new Windoos 7 desktop.

Thanks for the help,
Greg

[lfdsteve]

>>>arsenal of woes to unleash on those too lazy, poor, or stuck in their ways to upgrade.<<<<
It's none of the above for me. What about the guy that has a program that won't run on anything above xp?
Another reason to run away from Powerjection if you are looking at EFI (as if we needed another)
Oh well, let the buyer beware.
Steve

[Heybuck]

As the heading says, I'm still running a DOS accounting & inventory system on Windows 95 on an old stand alone computer in my office.

Actually I use XP every day for our business programs but the Windows based accountancy programs are so unfriendly they give me a real pain. The DOS system on the other hand is like childs play so I do costings and inventory updates on DOS, back it up on a stick, plug the stick into the XP and run the restore program so it downloads all the changes. The Windows progam is a much modernised version of the old DOS system, written by the same people, so they still talk to one another.

My computer guru was horrified when I told him about this but eventually he agreed it was just another but simpler way to skin a rabbit.

One day the old faithful will refuse to fire up but till that day, I'm sticking with it.

I'll crawl back under my rock now I've let that secret out!!

Ian

[Alvin]

Here's an Hardware/Software upgrade source some here may not be aware of (we have a brick and mortar location locally) https://email.microcentermedia.com/P...ta6.6%40wt.net

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Get your point, but IMO your broad casting of a fishnet topic descriptor is flawed. Ex: The AM/FM factory stereo in our '67 GTO works fine, lasted way past 12yrs, same with so much electronic test equipment, Hi-Fidelity equipment, etc. and so.... Not picking a fight, sure you get my point,so no worries.

Now where your 12yr life cycle does come into play is with "modern" vehicles, such as (again) the software. The Vag-Com Software I use on our VW/Audi CEL will have to be maintained on a compatible diagnostic unit (pc). The cars do age, most often the software doesn't for the particular model installed.

National news tonight showed Headsup display that will be available with video capture and replay on 2015 Corvettes looks just like a Forsa 4 in-car view video game. So that's partially where this is heading car wise.

As to XP, The chip speeds, etc. are the, have always been, restriction in OP performance pipeline as software requires more and more HP.

...one could draw an analogistic paralleling the current fuel "corn E-10/E-15 improvements" degradation rendering a perfectly good working hardware power supply (drive train) in a '67 GTO inoperable due to fuel incapatability w those same goals designed to make all computer, and household goods obsolete in one manner or another.

"On-Star, throw a CEL warning and kill the vehicle CPU w an unsupported software virus! Timed obsolescence, and time for the minion user to purchase a new one!"

Lots to love about analog these days.

I was thinking more of a broad range than just cars. If you bought a TV 12 years ago, dont expect it to be comparable with many of the modern day conveniences like wireless.

If you bought a cell phone 12 years ago, don't expect it to be compatible with most cellular networks.

If your a tech guy - most electronics are obsolete year by year. If your an average user, extend that life to 3- 5 years depending on the product.

Twelve years for an operating system? Wasn't that designed by cavemen? People are so reluctant to switch. Spend the $75 and do the upgrade. W7 is so much better than XP- unless you are still using dial up.

We still have a laptop than runs XP. Its sort of a community unit. When ever the desktop is used, someone may head over and use the slow laptop. But even now that we all have tablets in the house, I may trash the laptop in the very near future.

[mikeb]

Originally Posted by Dennis H.

Get used to the planned obsolescence of anything using technology to operate. It is being put in all the newer cars, and most of them will become obsolete in only a few years after purchase. You will no longer be able to purchase a car and hope to keep it for 10 years, as most of its electronics will not be supported. And since most of todays auto electronics are vin number specific, you will not be able to go to a salvage yard for an electronic used part. Welcome to our new world.

My daughter's 1999 Jeep Cherokee sport had the ignition key chip reader thing go out in the steering column. Had a wrecker come and take it to the Jeep dealer. They called me back after tyhey had looked at it and told me that part was no longer available and they couldn't fix it, and that I needed to come pick it up. Seems that my Jeep was now a useless brick. This happened on a Friday.

I dilly dallied around until Monday to go get it, and before I could get up there they called me back and they had managed to find the part somewhere and had fixed it. I got lucky that time. The key chip reader is coded to the computer in the car and getting one from the junkyard won't work.

The days of a car lasting for 10-15+ years are numbered due to the electronics, just as you said.

[69goatboy]

Originally Posted by KS circutguy

Also Windows 7 is still the preferred OS of geeks and gamers.

Just be careful when loading a older game on a Win7 box.

I installed a racing game (Toca 3) on my new Win7 64bit box, and the game stomped all over the OS to the point that it wouldn't even boot. I had to bring it into work to let our IT guy work his magic on it (which he did).

I've gotten in the habit of googling "will (insert program title here) run on Win7?" prior to installing anything.

[Alvin]

Historically: It'll be "about 5 minutes" before the Win 7 is same as the XP OP IMO...that's what Steve Gates/Microsoft Steve Jobs/Apple need to keep the $$$ revenue streams flowing, and that is by design.

The paraphrased "...those not wanting to spend $75 on (insert OS) upgrade are living in the dark ages" misses the point that all of the supporting software is not or may not be a available in an upgrade compatible, and/or available at all rendering many perfectly operating devices junk - by design. And the added costs to upgrade ancillary software and hardware is not included in that "it's only $75 for an upgrade" statement.

Simple solution is to maintain XP based (et al) devices that remain non-Internet connected as a support ends, such as my previously mention Vag-Com HP Mini w interface automotive OBDII Dongle.

[quicksilver97ta]

Originally Posted by KS circutguy

Guy's it's a 12 year old OS.
It's old slow insecure compared to Windows 7.
BTW; Windows 7 actually uses less system resources than XP did.
It scales very well, meaning it knows the CPU - memory - video of the system it's being installed on.
It's cheap at $76.98, get the OEM full versions, not upgrade versions.Get 64 bit for systems with more than 3 gig of memory, 32 bit for less than 3 gig memory.
You'll be glad you did! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Wi...-/111251223634
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116986
Also Windows 7 is still the preferred OS of geeks and gamers.
Of course there's always Ubuntu still free as always.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

So... can I buy a copy and install it on my desktop and laptop? I bet they want me to buy two copies. What would happen if I just buy one and try to install it on both?

[Captainofiron]

have to use Windows 7 at work, and it has some nice stuff compared to XP, its miles ahead of the Vista on my wifes laptop, but my home PC is still running strong on XP.

I built it to be my gaming machine

[andyg]

Originally Posted by dataway

CircutGuy ...so you are saying that Win7 is going to run on my netbook using fewer resources than XP? Or that Win7 is going to run on my 7 year old lap top better than XP?

I'd find that surprising. I know that it can be machine specific, and that Win7 probably goes a lot farther to recognize the special needs of a laptop, but it would still surprise me. I might have to try it on the lap top.

I'd have serious doubts about Win7 on the newbook and it's atom processor ...although again it's possible that Win7 or even Win8 would know how to handle the Atom better than XP, which was written long before the atom existed.

Am I correct in assuming that Win7-8 "scale" themselves better to whatever machine they are installed on when compared to XP?
JohnnyB

Window 7 had a "Starter" edition of the OS that was designed for netbooks and runs fine on them. Though I am not sure buying a full OEM version allows installation of starter. All Starter was missing vs full editions of 7 was really the Aero interface and some graphics utilities, which a netbook couldn't handle anyways.

[PMD1969]

Originally Posted by KS circutguy

Guy's it's a 12 year old OS.
It's old slow insecure compared to Windows 7.
BTW; Windows 7 actually uses less system resources than XP did.
It scales very well, meaning it knows the CPU - memory - video of the system it's being installed on.
It's cheap at $76.98, get the OEM full versions, not upgrade versions.Get 64 bit for systems with more than 3 gig of memory, 32 bit for less than 3 gig memory.
You'll be glad you did! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Wi...-/111251223634
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116986
Also Windows 7 is still the preferred OS of geeks and gamers.
Of course there's always Ubuntu still free as always.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

My 45 Year Old Pontiac still runs fine and has been and IS more reliable than any modern car I have ever owned.

Just saying ....