Windows XP Does anyone plan on dropping XP?

[sirloyne]

XP is fast. It's also uses MUCH less resources than every OS after it. XP is for people who like to get things done on their computer. One of my computers has a 500GB HDD, 4GB of 1600 mhz ram (only 3.5 useable) and an Intel i5 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Ivy Bridge (OC'd to 4.2). I have the room... I have the power, but I have no desire to switch to an OS that consistently does less and less with each version, all the while using more and more resources. I put function before form. My computers aren't tablets and they're not phones, I don't want an OS designed for a phone on my computer. I don't want to have to hover my mouse pointer in the magical place while I wait for the secret options screen to appear. I don't use apps. Angry Birds is an app. Whip cracking sounds when you shake your phone is an app. I use software. Argue all you want that "app" is just the new hipster way of saying application, but App-le started calling their idiotic little plug-ins apps and it made their loyal flock of sheeple feel chic saying it. Microsoft changing my Start menu to an All Apps Screen is just sad. Sad and pathetic. It's just M$ trying to prove that they can be hip too. I don't want to have to use keyboard shortcuts to open things. There's a reason why they invented "point & click". Point & click was an improvement to using keyboard shortcuts. People telling me to "get with the times" and just hit the Win key + ? baffle me. Why would I use an OS that's clearly going backwards?

When these new reports come out about how Windows 7 is now the most popular OS, how it finally surpassed XP, I can't help but wonder how many people swallow this hook, line and sinker. I'm not claiming that 7 didn't pass XP, it did. But WHY did it is what you should be wondering. What caused this massive migration? The only reason 7 passed XP is because people were grabbing up all the 7 machines they could so they WOULDN'T be stuck with 8. Now you may think "But Microsoft says they sold 100 million licenses for Windows 8", but we're only talking licenses here. How may of those were sold to HP, Dell, Gateway, or whoever? How many of those are on computers just sitting around on shelves waiting to be sold? How many are just sitting around waiting to go on a computer that hasn't even been built yet? How many were sold for $15, only for people to find out it was terrible and remove it? Personally, I'm in that last option. "How many registered users are there" would be a better place to start, or "how many of those registered users are STILL using it" might be better still.

So... with M$ ending support for XP next year, who plans on dropping it? If it still works, and you can still use new hardware, and all of your programs still run... will you switch? How many people believe that if M$ doesn't support it you'll be suddenly be plagued by viruses, malware, and hackers? When was the last time you got a virus with XP? I use Avira Premium Antivirus and ZoneAlarms free 2 way firewall version 9.2. (They also went the route of crapifying their software, but looking good doing it in later versions.). Other than downloading and installing SP3 I NEVER install updates. I only install the ones that are required by software I want to install, and those are very far and few in between. I don't remember the last time I had a virus. I don't believe my computer will spontaneously combust if I don't downgrade my OS, do you?

 

[ussnorway]

I would not be so sure, after all small business run web servers and if those servers run on XP it could cause severe damage.
My biggest worry is with state funded facilities that use XP as a server and primary desktop, such places are a hackers paradise getting things like medical records and social security.

XP 64bit is made from server 2003 and unlike XP 32bit is not a true desktop machine... this fact does make it handy for working on files stored on a server that is behind a firewall. I agree that many such places are "a hackers paradise" as you put it but that has little to do with XP and is more because the people running them don't understand their own systems.