Windows XP support runs out next week

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Bruce*Lee

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Windows XP will pass another milestone on the road to retirement next week when Microsoft withdraws mainstream support for the operating system..

While the company said that it will continue to provide free security fixes for XP until 2014, any future bugs found in the platform will not be fixed unless customers pay for additional support.

Mainstream support for XP will end on 14 April 2009, over seven years after the operating system originally shipped.

However, the passing of the deadline will place Microsoft in the unusual position of no longer offering mainstream support for its most widely used product. Windows XP accounts for about 63 per cent of all internet connected computers, according to March 2009 statistics from Hitslink, while Windows Vista makes up about 24 per cent.

Windows XP also continues to be sold with low-cost mini laptops, otherwise known as netbooks, as Vista is too heavy on system resources for this level of hardware.

The key message, according to Microsoft, is that the company will continue to provide security support for XP users.

"We will provide critical security fixes via Windows Update for all editions of XP until 2014," said Laurence Painell, Windows marketing manager at Microsoft UK.

Microsoft's mainstream support includes problem resolution over the phone, and covers fixes for security and non-security related issues such as bugs and requests for changes.

Once Windows XP moves out of the mainstream support phase, customers will need an extended support contract with Microsoft or one of its channel partners to address any issues not related to security.

With a platform as mature as XP, this is unlikely to prove an issue, according to Microsoft.

"XP has been out a long time, so we would hope that there are not many issues that would require that level of support," said Painell.

Gartner analyst Michael Silver agreed, adding that he had not spoken to any companies planning to pay for extended support.

"The only thing extended support buys you is creation of new non-security fixes, at a hefty fee for each one. After all these years, most people figure that most of the functional bugs [in XP] are already worked out," he said.

In the past, most customers would already have moved to a newer platform before this deadline arrived. But because there was such a long gap between XP and Vista, customers have had only a couple of years to make the transition.

Many customers have also chosen to skip Vista and go straight to Windows 7, once this becomes available. Microsoft said that companies now have an opportunity to look at their options for a transition away from XP.

"Windows 7 is built on the same core architecture as Vista, and we provide a number of tools and applications to help companies understand any problems they might face," said Painell. He reiterated that customers can use Vista or the Windows 7 beta as test platforms for planning a migration to the forthcoming platform.

Meanwhile, Microsoft revealed that, while Windows 7 users will be able to downgrade to Windows XP, the reverse will not be true.

Microsoft said in its Engineering Windows 7 blog that XP users will have to perform a full install.

"There are simply too many changes in how PCs have been configured (applets, hardware support, driver model etc) that having all of that support carry forth to Windows 7 would not be nearly as high quality as a clean install," the blog entry said.
Copyright ? 2009 vnunet.com
Click to expand...

Soruce
 
The big had of Steve Sweeps into our pocketbooks!

I have the Beta for Windows 7 and Love It 8D
 
Great.... My computer will no longer get updates for bugs. Just wonderful.

I guess I have to get Windows 7 when it comes out.
 
Quick, mess things up!

I didn't look it up, but if I remember right 7 comes out in August. I may be completely wrong though :P
 
That's about right. Win 7 RC should be out by end of May, with the official release coming sometime late Q3 or early Q4 most likely.
 
There's a reason why XP is still used on 63% of systems still. Because it works fine. If you still wanna use XP, do it. You still get security updates till 2014 which are the critical ones. These other updates they're referring are bugs in the software. Given how long XP has been out, it is very unlikely that such bugs are to occur. And even if they do, I'm certain you could easily get a third party hotfix for it.

However, Windows 7 is supposedly less resource intensive than Vista, so if you want some eye candy and a couple neat features accompanied by a number of nuaces, then get Windows 7.
 
rawr said:
There's a reason why XP is still used on 63% of systems still. Because it works fine. If you still wanna use XP, do it. You still get security updates till 2014 which are the critical ones. These other updates they're referring are bugs in the software. Given how long XP has been out, it is very unlikely that such bugs are to occur. And even if they do, I'm certain you could easily get a third party hotfix for it.

However, Windows 7 is supposedly less resource intensive than Vista, so if you want some eye candy and a couple neat features accompanied by a number of nuaces, then get Windows 7.
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm sure xp is still the largest used because Vista hasn't been out long enough to do a full turn through the mainstream hardware market. The majority of people will never install their own operating system and just wait until they have to buy a new system to get anything new.
 
You're bang on rawr.
XP users still get security updates which is all that is really needed at this point. XP has been out long enough that it is functionally bug free. There are no 'game breaking' issues with XP so to speak, therefore XP users need not worry.
 
W7 should come out around fall of this year. I seen a post somewhere but cant remember where lol. I'm upgrade from Vista to Window 7 since people say is fast and good for folding (F@H)
 
This is the ONLY way MS will get people to switch...

"We no longer support you."
"But my XP won't even boot!"
"You can pay me $150 to fix it or $99 to upgrade to Vista/7."
 
ha ha yeah i will have to update my XP soon. But see as its bug free right now i will just wait until 2014 to do so :).
 
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