Microsoft Urges Businesses To Get Off XP 727
An anonymous reader writes "It's approximately 11 years since Windows XP was unveiled, and this week Microsoft was still at it trying to convince users that it's time to upgrade. A post on the Windows For Your Business Blog calls on businesses to start XP migrations now. Microsoft cites the main reason as being that support for XP ends in April 2014, and 'most new hardware options will likely not support the Windows XP operating system.' If you run Windows Vista, Microsoft argues that it's time to 'start planning' the move to Windows 8. As this article points out, it's not uncommon to hear about people still running XP at work."
Won't happen (Score:5, Interesting)
I work in a hospital setting where most, if not all, computers run XP. In radiology specifically, the PACS software we run is only certified for windows XP and ie 6.
Hospital doesn't want to invest money into upgrading pacs software.
Open-source XP (Score:2, Interesting)
We saw Vista, 7 and now 8 and each generation offers such awesome improvements over the previous... I dare Microsoft to open-source Windows XP on May 1st, 2014. I don't see it happen, but you may want to have a look at ReactOS [reactos.org]. If you ask me, OpenXP would be a better name for it.
Re:Won't happen (Score:2, Interesting)
I too work in Healthcare IT for hospitals and I will tell you that while I may agree that it probably won't happen , it absolutely should. I know of hospitals still running NT4. When security patches are no longer available for an OS such as the case with NT4, it becomes a major security risk. With the new laws such as HIPAA and HITECH, hospital IT staffs risk massive security breaches, lawsuits and fines if hospitals such as yours take that stance.
Dear Microsoft, (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you need a bigger hint that your OSs have become WORSE in recent years, not better?*
Keep that page as a template -- you'll be saying the same thing about Windows 7 in a decade if you continue in the direction you're going with Windows 8.
* yes, I know -- more stable, more secure. But the parts that people SEE and USE is what's sucking.
Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
My company has roughly 200 employees. From my perspective, I will plan to migrate off of our remaining XP machines (about 30) only because of security updates. In early 2014, I understand that security updates will cease, though I expect it will be extended. Were is not for this deadline by Microsoft, I wouldn't force the upgrade. In a corporate environment, the OS isn't terribly relevant, but the applications are. You'd be surprised how many application are still not ready for a native 64 bit environment, some niche programs that we rely on just won't work unless a 32 bit OS is emulated.
So, if Microsoft continued XP support indefinitely, I would never move. XP SP2 is the first OS Microsoft has offered that is solid and stable (just don't let users run as admin).
Re:Won't happen (Score:5, Interesting)
I work in a hospital setting where most, if not all, computers run XP. In radiology specifically, the PACS software we run is only certified for windows XP and ie 6.
Hospital doesn't want to invest money into upgrading pacs software.
I do quite a bit of work in veterinary medicine and the costs associated with upgrading is pretty large. The scary part of a lot of this software isn't that it's certified to work on XP, it's that its so crappily written that it only works on XP with admin access and any number of bandaids to make it work. What I've done in a few cases is virtualized the XP box where it was possible. Trying to keep this stuff running over the long term is going to be fun.
Opportunity for Linux (Score:5, Interesting)
Payback is a bitch, baby! (Score:4, Interesting)
One trivial example: How many gaggled, "I introduced a space in all the important and default folder names. All those geeks trying to use cygwin to run shell scripts have to redo their scripts to quote their path names. ha! ha!! haa! Their support cost goes up. Our customer switching cost goes up. Our lock is getting stronger!"
And finally, they find their customers are unable to get out of XP to Win7!!!
Serves them right! Pay back is a bitch baby! You deserve it. All I got is that unspellable German word, schadenfreude or something.
Ya, how dare they only support an OS for 13 years! (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously trying to whine about MS requiring people to occasionally upgrade their OS is rather stupid. They support their OSes for quite a long time, 10 years is the standard support but some are extended (like XP). That is pretty damn good, rare you find other OSes with support that long.
So XP is now coming to an end of that support. You can upgrade to 7 or 8, which have guaranteed support until 2020 or 2023 respectively.
Oh, and Windows 8 works just fine on older hardware, as does Windows 7 (yes we've tested it at work).
Enough with the silliness.
Re:Pry XP from cold, stiff fingers (Score:5, Interesting)
Businesses use IE, and the smart people break the policy and install other Browsers.
Depends on the business. At my company we have IE, but are encouraged to use FireFox instead (no other browsers allowed). At Los Alamos National Lab both IE and FireFox are installed on the computers, but only FireFox is allowed to access anything but internal sites.
Re:Won't happen (Score:5, Interesting)
In a completely unrelated industry... television production, we have a render box that was written on 32bit Red Hat about 6 six years ago. The company that sold us the system created proprietary modules. Now it's 2012, and our on air render box is an old version of Linux that cannot support more than 3GB RAM. We can't upgrade, because it would break the proprietary modules.
So this company managed to Microsoft our asses using Linux. Bravo. For the record, during evaluation six years ago, I said "no." They never listen to me, though.
Re:$500,00 equipment with WinXP (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, wait, such a company doesn't seem to exist. From my experiences with Olympus, they seem to constantly update their software specifically to break features and prevent you from using 3rd party analysis tools like Imaris, let alone FOSS software. One would think that since you bought a fancy new spinning disc from them, they'd let you run the analysis software, which is generally not worth paying for on it's own, on your computer. But no, they also like to make you use dongles on any other computer too. It's fucking ridiculous.
Re:Send us money! (Score:4, Interesting)
To be honest I was going for funny. However it is obvious that there are businesses out there that can't or not willing to leave XP. Microsoft could simply sell support services to these customers. Windows XP had a long run and to be fair Microsoft has supported it for a very long time (an eternity by today's standards). There are businesses that had custom software made that aren't willing to give up something that works just so Microsoft can focus solely on Windows 8.
Sure Windows XP won't have the latest bug fixes, but the companies that rely on it can mitigate the risks without purchasing an upgrade.
I had a friend who ran a small office. One day his secretary had to move out of town with her husband. He did what would come natural and placed a "Help Wanted" ad in the local paper. He required that the new hire knew how to use a word processor and more specifically Wordperfect running on an IBM XT. Despite the fact that Pentium computers running Windows 95 were available, he had no desire to upgrade and no need to use that computer for anything else than a word processor. You wouldn't believe the number of phone calls from people trying to sell him a new computer.
One day he came in my office and ask if he should be concerned since a salesman told him that his machine wasn't running the most up to date software and was prone to malware and security exploits. Since he didn't even have a modem installed and he was pretty much set in his ways on what he used his computer for, I didn't see any need for him to try to learn a new computer system. Eventually he found a new secretary and that old machine was in use up to the day he finally retired (to my and everyone else's surprise).
It shouldn't come to anyone surprise that not all businesses exist for the purpose of buying upgrades.
If Windows 8 is a good product then Microsoft shouldn't have any problems staying fed.
With the current trend of a new major OS version coming out every two years, I find it hard to justify NOT using Linux or the various BSDs for any independent software destined for long term use.
Re:Ya, how dare they only support an OS for 13 yea (Score:0, Interesting)
Car analogy time!
I can't help but notice that mechanics, or even dealerships, still do repairs on vehicles. If there's a problem with a 2000 Sunfire or whatever, guess what... it can still be repaired. It's not like mechanics or dealerships will be outright "Well THERE'S you're problem... it's not a new car. Sorry, we're not touching it. We can throw it away for you if you like, and you can help yourself to one of our brand new vehicles."
Paddling furiously to get there.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd be happy to get right on migrating chop chop just like MS wants. Our MS TAM keeps pushing pushing pushing, but the problem is that I have 30k+ workstations to manage. Just the act of physically upgrading the OS on each of those workstations takes plenty of time as it is. Plus, there's the matter of keeping the business going while I upgrade all those workstations.
First, however, I have to create a Win7 OS build that works on all the one-off situations I have. That a work in progress. Then I have to test the OS build on all those one-off situations. Then I have to test the bajillion apps I have and figure out what works and what doesn't. Then I have to determine what can be remediated and what has to be replaced. Then I have to get the budget for both remediation and replacement of those apps. Then I have to test, certify and package what's been remediated and replaced. Then I have to determine what will need to be certified by the various government agencies that we operate under. (We have to get governmental blessings in some cases to change hardware and/or software). Then I have to buy replacement hardware for those workstations that are below the waterline for the new OS. Then I have to schedule (and pay for) end user training on the new OS in various languages in cities all over the globe. Then I have to plan the overwhelming logistics of putting a new OS on all these workstations all over the globe in a manner that doesn't disrupt the business. In addition, I have to deliver replacement hardware to the right place at the right time with very limited resources (that is, not enough people to install so many boxen). Then I have to have the support infrastructure in place to support the inevitable issues that will come roaring in. Then I have to have procedures in place to investigate these issues on the new OS and do whatever is required to unbreak whatever is broken, whether it be sending the software back for fixes or unforeseen hardware replacements.
So, yeah, pardon me if I'm running a bit behind. I've got a lot of work to do with too few staff, too little time and not enough money. But, what else is new?
Quit your bitching already! (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft is end-of-lifing a decade-old OS. It's already 11 years old, and will be declared fully unsupported in another two years. Which means they'll support the OS until seven years after the replacement is released.
Compare this to Apple. OS X 10.1 is the closest in age to Windows XP, and it was end-of-lifed in 2002. In fact, their most recent "supported" OS is 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which is only three years old - approximately the age of Windows *7*. And I can verify that many application vendors seem to consider 10.6 the minimum, some even 10.7.
And let's compare this to Linux. There's not enough space or time to get into every distro, so let's focus on Ubuntu, the most Windows-like distro. The oldest "supported" version is the server variant of Hardy Heron, the 8.04 Long-Term-Support release, which was released in 2008 (around the time of Vista SP1). For a desktop variant, you can only go back to 10.4 LTS, released in 2010 (around the time of W7 SP1). And those are the long-term support versions. "Regular" versions can only go back to 2011.
Come on now, guys. Microsoft does a lot of things wrong, but they've been downright saints about ditching XP, doing far better than pretty much everyone else.