XP Pro Support Ends April 2008

S

Shenan Stanley

someone said:
According to this:
http://www.infopackets.com/channels...13_microsoft_pulls_the_plug_on_windows_xp.htm

"Microsoft's "mainstream" support for Windows XP Professional under
their SupportLifecycle Policy ends on 04/14/09. No updates will be
issued after that date unless you pay for "extended support" which
is available until 04/08/14."


Essentially - this is the 'rule of thumb'...

"Microsoft will offer Mainstream support for either a minimum of 5 years (10
for business products) from the date of a product’s general availability, or
for 2 years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is
longer."

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifePolicy

So yes - mainstream support for Windows XP Professional ends 4/14/2009.

The only way I could make sense was that I went back and looks and they seem
to always add a few months to the end of the lifecycle for a product. In
this case - Windows Vista was released to mainstream on January 25-31,
2007.. right? So if you go by the 'general rule of thumb' - support for
Windows XP would end on January 25-31, 2009. (... 2 years after the
successor product (N+1) is released ...) So they added a couple of months
to it... It's April 2007 now. That's two FULL YEARS from tomorrow.

If you still plan on using an 8 year old OS in two years - I am afraid -
just like those running Windows 98 right now - you are going to have other
issues. It's not just Microsoft that stops supporting older products -
especially OSes. You might have trouble getting drivers for your hardware
to make it work on a given OS. Some newer applications/games may be
programmed to only work on the latest OS.

I know people hate change - heck - it can be annoying. The truth is you
*don't have to change*. You can continue using your archaic
computer/archaic OS/archaic programs the rest of your life. The only reason
you might have to change would be 'because you want to' or because people
start refusing to do business with you (so you cannot make money to feed
yourself anymore) because they have to jump through hoops to send you
anything on a computer. (Acrobat 4.0 just not able to read that PDF they
sent? WordPerfect 8.0 not quite able to convert those new documents? Not
to mention - since you didn't change - that hardware - it's probably on its
last leg...)
 
H

HEMI-Powered

Today, someone made these interesting comments ...
According to this:
http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/bills_links_and_
more/2007/20070413_microsoft_pulls_the_plug_on_windows_xp.htm

"Microsoft's "mainstream" support for Windows XP Professional
under their SupportLifecycle Policy ends on 04/14/09. No
updates will be issued after that date unless you pay for
"extended support" which is available until 04/08/14."
MS does this every year on every product, then rescind it at the
last minute. There is no upside to them pissing off their installed
base of all previous products, knowing that only a percentage will
upgrade. So what?
 
M

Malvern

someone said:
According to this:
http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/bills_links_and_more/2007/200
70413_microsoft_pulls_the_plug_on_windows_xp.htm

"Microsoft's "mainstream" support for Windows XP Professional under their
SupportLifecycle Policy ends on 04/14/09. No updates will be issued after
that date unless you pay for "extended support" which is available until
04/08/14."
Others said what I suspected. What gets me tied up in knots is WHY a
company puts out a WORSE version of a product (in this case, an OS), then
forces users to have to BUY the thing or face obsolescence !

Malv
 
S

Shenan Stanley

someone said:
http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/bills_links_and_more/2007/200
70413_microsoft_pulls_the_plug_on_windows_xp.htm

"Microsoft's "mainstream" support for Windows XP Professional
under their SupportLifecycle Policy ends on 04/14/09. No updates
will be issued after that date unless you pay for "extended
support" which is available until 04/08/14."
Others said what I suspected. What gets me tied up in knots is WHY
a company puts out a WORSE version of a product (in this case, an
OS), then forces users to have to BUY the thing or face
obsolescence !

This happens with everything - change.
Isn't it horrible?

As I stated before - no one is 'forcing' you to do anything.
You can become a hermit if you desire.
The world can move on around you.
That is a viable choice.

A product might have to face obsolescence?
Oh no - again?

I could list many products throughout history that have faced obsolescence.
The people themselves didn't have to face obsolescence in most cases -
unless they decided to stubbornly fight the change.
It was the product, not the people, that faced obsolescence.

The chant may have been similar, the excuses the same ("it's all I have ever
known", "it does it better because it's 'by hand'", etc) and some have
inspired great stories of courage and victory (trains racing horses,
chainsaws vs. axes and hand-saws, etc..)

Most of the products were met with the same negative attitude as Windows
Vista.

Do I think Windows Vista will turn out to be like many of the previous
products in its line?
I don't know...

It might be the Windows ME of its time.
A stop-gap between Windows 98 and Windows XP.
Something that later - just seems to fade into obscurity.

It might end up like Windows XP (who still has its haters and people hanging
on to Windows 2000/NT)...
Perhaps going on long enough where people forget there was something before.
Perhaps actually getting enough fixes/patches/changes over its lifetime
where some of the 'haters' turned nto people who used it and either were
quiet or advocated its use.

Some will swear XP is the best OS *they* have a choice of.
Some will swear Windows XP is the worst OS ever put out by Microsoft.
Some of those will switch to Vista (not literally - but to swear it is the
worst OS) and others of those will still continue to swear XP is the worst
OS.

If you don't want to switch - don't.
If you don't EVER want to switch - don't.

I personally have not yet.
I do use it - don't get me wrong - but not on my two main PCs.

I use it because it may well be what I support next (I will have to support
it in some small way in any case - like Windows ME.)

I use it because it may well turn out to be fantastic once people (and this
happens with each new OS for most people who only use the computer as a
tool) get over their innate fear of the new and of change in general and
start using it. Some might even find new features they cannot live without.
Not to mention - some will not know any different - meaning they STARTED on
Vista - so... 'what do you mean there is something else?'

No one is forcing you to change or face obsolescence but you.

The product is facing obsolescence, if *you* face obsolescence, that is a
choice you make (and you wouldn't be alone - many people throughout history
have done the same things before - I cannot say any of them won - nor can I
say they lost...)

Not to mention - what's so bad about using a product that is obsolete in
as-far as support from the manufacturer goes?

Classic cars are a popular hobby.
Some people collect and use some strange old tools/items.
 
H

Howard Leighty

Shenan Stanley is an obvious jerk (in my opinion) with his unnecessarily
sarcastic reply below to the legitimate concern expressed by Malvern.
Shenan Stanley apparently has an agenda (since he is an MVP) and makes
excuses for Microsoft by mocking Malvern as a Luddite who is opposed to
technological change. Malvern's concerns are not about change in general.
They are about changes that represent a giant step backward and a decline in
performance and functionality. Some changes are just not beneficial. That
is the point of Malvern's concern and that Shenan Stanley mockingly
sidesteps.

OK, here is a little bit about me. I make my living as a computer
professional in my own business. I have been involved professionally with
computers since 1982 and in electronics generally since 1960. So I know
what I'm talking about.

At the present time, Vista is a *BIG* money-maker for me because of how
utterly crappy it is. Vista is inferior to XP on almost any basis you want
to consider. Vista is a very poor performer in terms of graphics because
Microsoft abandoned support for the OpenGL standard as a way of pusing their
own proprietary Direct3D product. So any games or applications that require
OpenGL support run at about 2% of the performance that XP provides. Vista
also comes up short in terms of game performance generally and single
application performance. XP is superior to Vista on all three fronts.

But don't take my word for this. Read the article published by the
benchmarking gurus at Toms Hardware. You can find the article with detailed
comparisons of Vista performance and XP performance on identical hardware
and software at the URL http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/29/xp-vs-vista/

That article tells the whole story about why Vista is just a big bloated
Turd dressed up to look pretty. Make no mistake. Pretty is not the same as
functional. Most of my clients are businesses who don't care at all about
pretty. All they want is functionality and performance.

If you want to know why Microsoft is announcing their heavy-handed sudden
withdrawal of support for XP, it is because they know that most people who
know the ugly truth will reject Vista in favor of its more capable
predecessor, XP. The only way to force people to buy Vista is to use the
bludgeon method of forbidding the OEM menufacturers the option of
satisfying customer demand by continuing to provide XP on new systems.
Microsoft knows they can't sell Vista on its merits because by objective
benchmarking standards Vista has few, if any, merits when compared to XP.
Even the much touted ReadyBoost feature of Vista gives slower performance
that is inferior to just plain additional physical RAM. See the benchmark
article at http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/30878/137/

I have numerous clients (most of them small business clients) who, against
my advice, have made the decision to buy a Vista computer (most buy Vista
Ultimate) and who are having numerous problems and frustrations. But don't
get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the many desperate calls for help that I
get from frustrated people who can't get their systems running properly and
who can't find anything anymore in the new Vista GUI.

I will never understand why Microsoft insists on moving everything around
and renaming almost everything as they did in this latest RTM version of
Vista. To my mind this ploy is merely a hustle by which Microsoft wishes to
make it appear as if they really changed something. But apart from the new
and slightly useful memory management features, SuperFetch and ReadyBoost,
Vista is mostly the same XP kernel but now actually inferior to XP and
having an awkward GUI that makes it very frustrating to learn to use it for
people who have become accustomed to a Windows GUI that has been relatively
consistent since at least Win98, if not Win95.

To begin with, there a serious problem of a lack of availability of drivers
and manuals, even for new equipment!! A recent example is the business
client with a brand spanking new HP Photosmart C6180 All-In-One
multifunction printer/scanner/copier/fax that was sold to the client
directly by HP along with his brand new HP DV9000 duo-core laptop (nice box)
equipped with Vista. No Vista drivers were provided on CD with the C6180.
Also there was no manual covering Vista. The provided drivers and manual
stopped at XP.

Oh, yes, I found a Vista driver online, but HP Support admitted that they
haven't released the Vista manual for the product yet and there's no ETA.
Please, I don't want to hear that this is not Microsoft's fault. It
certainly is their fault for not providing sufficient lead time and support
to manufacturer's to allow them to be ready for the launch of Vista with
their own product lines. Even now six months later, major manufacturers are
still having problems supplying Vista drivers and manuals.

Let's not even get started about the lack of Vista support for legacy
peripherals and hardware that is already in use and installed. That
conversation would be the circumlocution of the self-evident and I've
already made my essential point.

=Howard Leighty=

Yes, it is my real email address.
I fear no spam. I use MailWasher Pro.
( http://www.mailwasher.net/ )
 
S

Shenan Stanley

Howard said:
Shenan Stanley is an obvious jerk (in my opinion) with his
unnecessarily sarcastic reply below to the legitimate concern
expressed by Malvern. Shenan Stanley apparently has an agenda
(since he is an MVP) and makes excuses for Microsoft by mocking
Malvern as a Luddite who is opposed to technological change.
Malvern's concerns are not about change in general. They are about
changes that represent a giant step backward and a decline in
performance and functionality. Some changes are just not
beneficial. That is the point of Malvern's concern and that Shenan
Stanley mockingly sidesteps.

OK, here is a little bit about me. I make my living as a computer
professional in my own business. I have been involved
professionally with computers since 1982 and in electronics
generally since 1960. So I know what I'm talking about.

At the present time, Vista is a *BIG* money-maker for me because of
how utterly crappy it is. Vista is inferior to XP on almost any
basis you want to consider. Vista is a very poor performer in terms
of graphics because Microsoft abandoned support for the OpenGL
standard as a way of pusing their own proprietary Direct3D product.
So any games or applications that require OpenGL support run at
about 2% of the performance that XP provides. Vista also comes up
short in terms of game performance generally and single application
performance. XP is superior to Vista on all three fronts.

But don't take my word for this. Read the article published by the
benchmarking gurus at Toms Hardware. You can find the article with
detailed comparisons of Vista performance and XP performance on
identical hardware and software at the URL
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/29/xp-vs-vista/

That article tells the whole story about why Vista is just a big
bloated Turd dressed up to look pretty. Make no mistake. Pretty
is not the same as functional. Most of my clients are businesses
who don't care at all about pretty. All they want is functionality
and performance.

If you want to know why Microsoft is announcing their heavy-handed
sudden withdrawal of support for XP, it is because they know that
most people who know the ugly truth will reject Vista in favor of
its more capable predecessor, XP. The only way to force people to
buy Vista is to use the bludgeon method of forbidding the OEM
menufacturers the option of satisfying customer demand by
continuing to provide XP on new systems. Microsoft knows they can't
sell Vista on its merits because by objective benchmarking
standards Vista has few, if any, merits when compared to XP. Even
the much touted ReadyBoost feature of Vista gives slower
performance that is inferior to just plain additional physical RAM.
See the benchmark article at
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/30878/137/

I have numerous clients (most of them small business clients) who,
against my advice, have made the decision to buy a Vista computer
(most buy Vista Ultimate) and who are having numerous problems and
frustrations. But don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the
many desperate calls for help that I get from frustrated people who
can't get their systems running properly and who can't find
anything anymore in the new Vista GUI.

I will never understand why Microsoft insists on moving everything
around and renaming almost everything as they did in this latest
RTM version of Vista. To my mind this ploy is merely a hustle by
which Microsoft wishes to make it appear as if they really changed
something. But apart from the new and slightly useful memory
management features, SuperFetch and ReadyBoost, Vista is mostly the
same XP kernel but now actually inferior to XP and having an
awkward GUI that makes it very frustrating to learn to use it for
people who have become accustomed to a Windows GUI that has been
relatively consistent since at least Win98, if not Win95.

To begin with, there a serious problem of a lack of availability of
drivers and manuals, even for new equipment!! A recent example is
the business client with a brand spanking new HP Photosmart C6180
All-In-One multifunction printer/scanner/copier/fax that was sold
to the client directly by HP along with his brand new HP DV9000
duo-core laptop (nice box) equipped with Vista. No Vista drivers
were provided on CD with the C6180. Also there was no manual
covering Vista. The provided drivers and manual stopped at XP.

Oh, yes, I found a Vista driver online, but HP Support admitted
that they haven't released the Vista manual for the product yet and
there's no ETA. Please, I don't want to hear that this is not
Microsoft's fault. It certainly is their fault for not providing
sufficient lead time and support to manufacturer's to allow them to
be ready for the launch of Vista with their own product lines.
Even now six months later, major manufacturers are still having
problems supplying Vista drivers and manuals.

Let's not even get started about the lack of Vista support for
legacy peripherals and hardware that is already in use and
installed. That conversation would be the circumlocution of the
self-evident and I've already made my essential point.

=Howard Leighty=

Yes, it is my real email address.
I fear no spam. I use MailWasher Pro.
( http://www.mailwasher.net/ )

Microsoft means nothing to me.

I side-stepped nothing.

Changes may not always be necessary - but they will always happen.

Support for things will end, not every product follow up will be better than
the product it replaced and not everyone has the same opinion.
Welcome to real life with many different people living in it.

It was a known fact that XP support would end two years after the release of
the next OS - no matter what it was.
Accept it or not - it existed long before Vista went public and established
the actual 'end-of-support' date.

Being around a long time does not mean you know what you are talking about -
it means you have an established opinion and experience - but it does not
mean you are correct or can speak for everyone.

Go back to the end of 2001/beginning of 2002 and readeverything in the
newsgroups.
You'll find the same arguments for/against against XP.
Some of them coninue through today ABOUT XP.
 

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