Windows XP gets another six months

[InsaneNutter]

Given its history of moving deadlines at a moment's notice, it hardly seems surprising that Microsoft is keeping Windows XP alive even longer than expected, but its latest move looks particularly bad for Vista.

The apparent decision to allow OEM computer sellers to offer disks that downgrade installations of Windows Vista to XP until the end of July next year clearly bumps up against the period when Windows 7 might be released.

Microsoft had previously said it would end the scheme next January, but the continued lack of demand for Vista appears to be behind the change of heart.

If the move is confirmed, it's yet more bad news for Vista, as XP users may have the option to skip the unloved OS entirely and move straight to Windows 7.

Good thing or bad thing? I don’t mind Vista at all but many people don’t look to be too keen on it.

Windows XP has defiantly had a good run for its money compared to any other Windows OS, I’m sure people will still use it for years to come regardless.

 

[Assassin]

I never used Vista so I can't really talk about that, but from what I've heard I don't really need it. The stability of Windows increased a lot from 98 to XP, which is why I think it did so well. A lot less BSODs, etc. Vista just doesn't add enough, and from what I've heard it doesn't run some older games, so I'm happy with XP. I just wonder how much better Windows 7 will be.

 

[InsaneNutter]

I agree back in the day going from Windows 98/ME to XP was amazing, Windows just didn’t crash anymore no matter what you did. Not everyone needs Vista but on new hardware it runs great, I would defiantly choose Vista over XP for a new pc.

Vista has a lot of useful improvements over XP, a good example is SuperFetch.. This improves loading up applications such as Photoshop a lot.

 

[Nimrod]

I just bought a laptop with Windows XP on it I did miss it.

Though it is an ultra portable laptop netbook thingy, so it couldnt run Vista well.

 

[Safinn]

To me as a general user I see no difference except for the standard stuff and vista looks much better.

Does anyone else have updates on Vista Ultimate every day?

 

[InsaneNutter]

To me as a general user I see no difference except for the standard stuff and vista looks much better.

Does anyone else have updates on Vista Ultimate every day?

Nope i get them once a month, if you install them all you should only get bugged on patch Tuesday, which is usually the first Tuesday in every month.

 

[PGHammer]

Why the Continuing Interest In XP

Given its history of moving deadlines at a moment's notice, it hardly seems surprising that Microsoft is keeping Windows XP alive even longer than expected, but its latest move looks particularly bad for Vista.

The apparent decision to allow OEM computer sellers to offer disks that downgrade installations of Windows Vista to XP until the end of July next year clearly bumps up against the period when Windows 7 might be released.

Microsoft had previously said it would end the scheme next January, but the continued lack of demand for Vista appears to be behind the change of heart.

If the move is confirmed, it's yet more bad news for Vista, as XP users may have the option to skip the unloved OS entirely and move straight to Windows 7.

Good thing or bad thing? I don’t mind Vista at all but many people don’t look to be too keen on it.

Windows XP has defiantly had a good run for its money compared to any other Windows OS, I’m sure people will still use it for years to come regardless.

XP's continued interest is driven by two factors: FUD and non-gamers.

1. The FUD Factor - There is *still* a trainload of fear/untertainty/doubt (especially the first and last) over Vista compared to XP, and the more a user has used XP, the greater the fear and doubt. I call it the Shoe Factor. (Have you ever had a pair of shoes that were so comfortable once you got htem broken in *just so* that you were loathe to get rid of them, even when they were falling apart? That is what Windows XP still represents.)

2. Non-gamers - Non-gamers are a group of folks that usually don't upgrade to the latest of anything, except *maybe* the keyboard or mouse. They usually don't upgrade their hardware unless something fails, and, more likely than not, they will upgrade the whole computer, rather than simply replace the problem part. Nowadays, the same group is frugal to a fault - they don't buy online, or at the big-box electronics store; instead, they will buy at Costco or Wal-mart. Another portion of the non-gamer group are those buying netbooks, low-end notebooks, or even *used* notebooks or laptops - this class of computer was simply not designed to run Vista, and can barely run XP, to be honest. (All too many of this computer class can be outrun by my mom's used 256 MB P4-based used laptop which, by the way, does run XP, albeit slowly.)

It definitely doesn't help that Vista is *still* perceived as requiring a system that costs $1000USD (never mind that it wasn't true when Vista went RTM, it wasn't true when Service Pack 1 went RTM, and isn't true today - we're dealing with perception, not reality). To be honest, if you have a decent hard drive, optical drive (DVD or better), monitor, keyboard, and mouse, you can crossgrade to Vista Ultimate SP1 (x64, no less) for $600USD. (And that is based around a 45nm Intel Yorkfield midrange quad-core CPU, 4 GB of DDR2-800, a decent motherboard with integrated graphics with a discrete-graphics upgrade option, and OEM Vista Ultimate X64 with SP1.) I'm spending $400USD (only two-thirds that) for the following reasons:

1. I already *have* Vista Ultimate x64.
2. Instead of Yorkfield, I'm going with the older (but still quad-core) 65nm Kentsfield (Q6600), which is under $200 (even local retail).
3. Like Q6600, DDR2 is a real bargain today; 4 GB of DDR2-800 is *still* selling under $100.
4. The motherboard (ASUS P5N-EM/HDMI) I paid $81 for (again, local retail).

I have a 400W PSU already; so I'm not pushed to upgrade the integrated. Still, even if I decided to do so, I can buy the VisionTek Radeon HD4850 and a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 500W PSU together for under $300USD. Total absolute worst-case upgrade cost: $700USD. (And this is coming from an AGP-based P4 Northwood-C that is running Vista Ultimate x86 with SP1 today. I keep all the drives, the PSU, and the case; I also keep the X-Fi XtremeGamer.)

I'm sure that price is beatable by some of you; that isn't the point.

The point is; how many of you are just plain afraid to throw out your worn-past-their-prime sneakers?

 

[InsaneNutter]

Agreed PGHammer

It looks to be the cool thing on the internet is to bash Vista/Microsoft, Vista did have a few problems with drivers when released and companies like creative trying to charge for Vista drivers certainly didn’t help. I would have thought them days were well over but obviously not.

Vista ran perfect on my old Athlon XP 3200+ with 1gig of ram, however I went back to XP until I upgraded to the PC ive got now as XP did perform a lot better for games, I guess if I got 2gigs of ram I would have noticed a big improvement, however it was time for a major upgrade anyway!

As you say you can build an Amazing pc that vista will fly on for £300 / $600 however shops would charge you double the price for that spec, I know someone who’s Grandma was sold a Pentium 4 in PC word that had 1gb of ram with vista and loads of crap like Norton installed... she said it herself that pc was slower than her old 700mhz pc running Windows ME.

I do think a lot of people are going to skip Vista and wait for Windows 7, just like people did with Windows ME.

I’m sure most people using it now will agree its a great improvement over XP, I would upgrade alone just for the Media Centre

If you using it now enjoy, you don’t need Vista but for me it’s more than a worthy improvement.

 

[Icharus_Falling]

there are other factors that contribute to the "FUD" scenario as well. consider that the number of people that transitioned from windows 98 to windows xp was in the tens of millions. now consider the fact that the number of people who are going to transition from xp to vista (or any new version) are in the hundreds of millions. the vast majority of these people have never made an OS transition before, and as far as theyre concerned, windows XP is the entire computing universe. (NOTE: those numbers are completely arbritrary, just used to show that there is a HUGE difference between the number of PC owners today, compared to 10 years ago)

these are the same people that havent been able to program the clock on their VCR's (and yes, they still have fucking VCR's, more FUD [nice term, gonna use that one alot =D]) for 25 years.

they want their technology to be idiot-proof and competely ready for them to take for granted. they certainly dont want to plug in that shitty canon printer they got for free when they bought their first computer to not work on the new computer. when that happens, they dont say "this printer is a piece of shit", they say "this new computer is a piece of shit".

the underlying problem is that the vast majority of the first-world human race is completely and hoplessly ignorant. do you think they care about the significance or advantages of 64+ bit computing? they havent used 5% of the average PC's potential in 10 years. they can go online, check theyre email, buy their penis-enlargement pills, and check the schedule for their favorite reality TV show just fine with what they have.

look at the internal combustion engine. this archaic machine runs the entire world, more or less. theres very little demand (or support for) replacing this ancient invention. the only solution the general public wants, is cheaper oil so they can keep using it. even though passing this bottle-neck is the KEY to the future of the human race. its the same exact mentality (reluctance for PC upgrades), but on a much less world-changing scale.

reaching even further off topic, why is the goal and attitude of human society to search for stabilty and comfort when we live in a world of chaos and destruction (from a universe standpoint)?


EDIT: who is going to be buying a new computer in the next year anyway, other than the young, single college crowd (who barely contributes to the FUD factor)? currency values are taking cliff dives and no one has any idea how to fix it, aside from throwing a bunch of fake money at the problem (just moving numbers around). how many trillions have our governments pissed away in the last month? Microsoft is giving XP more time, because itll be a financial disaster for them to release a new version any time soon. this microsoft decision has nothing to do with consumer concerns, its simple corporate CYA.

 

[MunkyMagikUK]

there are other factors that contribute to the "FUD" scenario as well. consider that the number of people that transitioned from windows 98 to windows xp was in the tens of millions. now consider the fact that the number of people who are going to transition from xp to vista (or any new version) are in the hundreds of millions. the vast majority of these people have never made an OS transition before, and as far as theyre concerned, windows XP is the entire computing universe. (NOTE: those numbers are completely arbritrary, just used to show that there is a HUGE difference between the number of PC owners today, compared to 10 years ago)

these are the same people that havent been able to program the clock on their VCR's (and yes, they still have fucking VCR's, more FUD [nice term, gonna use that one alot =D]) for 25 years.

they want their technology to be idiot-proof and competely ready for them to take for granted. they certainly dont want to plug in that shitty canon printer they got for free when they bought their first computer to not work on the new computer. when that happens, they dont say "this printer is a piece of shit", they say "this new computer is a piece of shit".

the underlying problem is that the vast majority of the first-world human race is completely and hoplessly ignorant. do you think they care about the significance or advantages of 64+ bit computing? they havent used 5% of the average PC's potential in 10 years. they can go online, check theyre email, buy their penis-enlargement pills, and check the schedule for their favorite reality TV show just fine with what they have.

look at the internal combustion engine. this archaic machine runs the entire world, more or less. theres very little demand (or support for) replacing this ancient invention. the only solution the general public wants, is cheaper oil so they can keep using it. even though passing this bottle-neck is the KEY to the future of the human race. its the same exact mentality (reluctance for PC upgrades), but on a much less world-changing scale.

reaching even further off topic, why is the goal and attitude of human society to search for stabilty and comfort when we live in a world of chaos and destruction (from a universe standpoint)?


EDIT: who is going to be buying a new computer in the next year anyway, other than the young, single college crowd (who barely contributes to the FUD factor)? currency values are taking cliff dives and no one has any idea how to fix it, aside from throwing a bunch of fake money at the problem (just moving numbers around). how many trillions have our governments pissed away in the last month? Microsoft is giving XP more time, because itll be a financial disaster for them to release a new version any time soon. this microsoft decision has nothing to do with consumer concerns, its simple corporate CYA.

I just wanted to reply to this, as I think you are spot on my friend. I could probably add more to this, but a) I'm too tired and b) you've pretty much got it spot on. The world could do with more people like you speaking sense. Thank you!