[news] Why Windows XP Won’t Be Going Away Anytime Soon

[unixman_again]

Why Windows XP Won't Be Going Away Anytime Soon

[Duranis]

Interesting. One bit I found funny was the bit were the woman says that is irresponsible for Microsoft to stop supporting XP because of the important systems it is used in but then the next quote has her saying they wont switch their systems to something else because it will cost to much.

 

i.e. It's important that these systems are secure when someone else is paying the development costs to keep it that way but when the company with the systems has to pay it then it is not as important anymore.

 

Have to say XP is still one of my favorite OS's. Could be made fairly lightweight, was pretty damn stable and from an end user prospective it did the job it was supposed to do.

[SHimmer45]

add all the bits from 10 into something that looks the same as XP and people would Queue up for it.

[3s-gtech]

It’s incredibly irresponsible of them. It’s just a recipe for disaster. Don’t they know Windows XP machines are used in oil and gas? In factories and power plants?

 

No. It's incredibly irresponsible of the companies that still use it. Microsoft didn't have to support it as long as they did (do Apple still support OS X 10.1, which is the same age?) Running XP on isolated machines is understandable, updating them via USB stick is dull if you're aware of Stuxnet!

 

Placing the blame on MS would be like blaming Audi for my equally aged car for breaking and expecting them to fix it. No, it's old and you use it at your own risk and expense.

[SHimmer45]

as above really imo

[unixman_again]

I disagree. You can still get brand new parts (AKA patches) for your 30 year old Audi.

 

What is interesting in the article is the fact that the IRS are paying M$ to continue to patch XP. I think the DOD are too, so it could be seen as a ploy to keep money rolling into the company. I wonder if the NHS and HMRC (I think these are the two biggest XP users in Blighty) are slipping Microsoft a monkey in the same way? Many people I speak to say XP is where Microsoft should have stopped writing O/Ss.

[Arthur]

You can still get brand new parts (AKA patches) for your 30 year old Audi.

You won't get updates for your Audi sat nav or entertainment system for 30 years (probably not even 10).

[3s-gtech]

I disagree. You can still get brand new parts (AKA patches) for your 30 year old Audi.

 

14 years old. But I have to pay for them, as do businesses that still want XP patches.

[bald_pig]

I disagree. You can still get brand new parts (AKA patches) for your 30 year old Audi.

 

And they'll have been made during the production run or by a third party, they're not still making the parts for every car ever made.

[sonofsanta]

As a result, it was no surprise when Microsoft finally discontinued support for Windows XP in 2014

 

Well no, because they'd announced it more than three years hence--and even that announcement was that they were extending support beyond the anticipated ten year date of 2011.

 

I can sympathise with "Sarah"'s lack of funds, but that's ultimately the choice her bosses are making--if they're not willing to invest in security and technology, then that's their grave to dig. Unfortunately for them, technology is never a one-off purchase, but an ongoing investment.