Microsoft's Attempt To Convert Users From Windows XP Backfires 860
MojoKid writes "Microsoft has been loudly and insistently banging a drum: All support and service for Windows XP and Office 2003 shuts down on April 8. In early February, faced with a slight uptick in users on the decrepit operating system the month before, Microsoft hit on an idea: Why not recruit tech-savvy friends and family to tell old holdouts to get off XP? The response ... was a torrent of abuse from Windows 8 users who aren't exactly thrilled with the operating system. Microsoft has come under serious fire for some significant missteps in this process, including a total lack of actual upgrade options. What Microsoft calls an upgrade involves completely wiping the PC and reinstalling a fresh OS copy on it — or ideally, buying a new device. Microsoft has misjudged how strong its relationship is with consumers and failed to acknowledge its own shortcomings. Not providing an upgrade utility is one example — but so is the general lack of attractive upgrade prices or even the most basic understanding of why users haven't upgraded. Microsoft's right to kill XP is unquestioned, but the company appears to have no insight into why its customers continue to use the OS. "
Re:Tired... (Score:3, Informative)
But when Apple not only puts their own web browser in their OS, *BUT FORBIDS INSTALLING ANY OTHER THIRD-PARTY BROWSER*, everyone just shrugs their shoulders and talks about how great a guy Steve Jobs was.
Huh? I've never had a problem installing other browsers on a mac. Ran Netscape for ages, back in the day, switched to Firefox, played around with Opera and Chrome-- even ran IE a couple of times (had to check how some sites displayed with IE)-- no problem.
Users are Cheap and dont like Change (Score:0, Informative)
There are two reasons people dont want to upgrade. The first being price, people are loathe to even pay $300 for a basic laptop or desktop, no matter what their hardware or software needs are. The second is that people dont want or understand change. I work at a national computer store chain and i've been told reasons from "But this Dell Dimension desktop i bought in 2002 worked just FINE until the hardware finally died. Why cant you fix it and keep it the same?" to "It looks different, i don't want to learn to use it." Windows 8.1 is fine, they stumbled a bit with the launch, but 8.1 is better for many people, the simpler start menu making it much easier for elderly or MUCH less tech savy people then the Slashdot crowd to use a computer. Also, an easy way to reinstall the OS built in while leaving files intact makes my job MUCH easier :)
Re:I have your conversion right here... (Score:3, Informative)
No need to be snarky.
It seems you're unaware that Windows 7 Professional and higher include Windows XP running in a VM to support programs that won't run on 7. This is not the same as the little check box under the property settings for compatibility with older OSes.
So assuming your applications don't require high performance 3D graphics, if it ran on XP, it will still run on virtualized XP under 7.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7
You're welcome.
Re:I have your conversion right here... (Score:5, Informative)
No need to pretend to be informative.
It seems you're unaware that this article is about upgrading to Windows 8, which doesn't have Windows XP mode. Also, most home users wouldn't have access to it anyway in Windows 7 (IE: Home edition). Windows 8 does have Client Hyper-V for the business-oriented editions, but it does not include a free XP VM as Windows 7 did.
Re:lack of attractive upgrade prices (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget the $100/year charge for Office 365 or the $220 for Home Office Premium.
Re:I have your conversion right here... (Score:5, Informative)
VirtualBox + Seamless mode + boot VM on host login.
So automated, even your grandmother could use it. Throw in an SSD and the VM will work so smoothly, she won't even notice.
Re:I have your conversion right here... (Score:4, Informative)
It seems you're unaware that I'M THE GUY who you just referenced. And for the record, XP mode doesn't always support the applications for one reason or another.
Re:I have your conversion right here... (Score:5, Informative)
There is an alternative, ReactOS [reactos.org].
But it isn't viable yet.
I strongly encourage everybody to contribute somehow.
Back up your data! (Score:5, Informative)
But there's a gotcha.. I upgrade to 8.1 via Windows 8. The first step from Windows XP to 8 ran pretty smoothly, all of my data from the XP installation was moved to a folder called windows.old where it could be recovered from by someone with a basic understanding of PCs. All well and good, but the obvious next step was to upgrade to Windows 8.1.. a bit trickier as you can't do that without installing KB2871389 first (either through Windows Update or manually). The Windows 8.1 download is enormous, 3GB+ but it installs smoothly enough.
The catch? Well, upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 8 creates the windows.old folder with the old data in. Upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 DELETES that folder and creates a new one with the old Windows 8 settings.. obliterating your original data from the Windows XP installation.
Well, that wasn't a problem for me as I'd backed up everything onto another drive which I unplugged to be on the safe side. But it wasn't what I was expecting to happen *at all*.. and you can see that a less paranoid customer (or one without a suitable backup disk) could well lose everything if going from XP to 8 to 8.1. And I do notice that there doesn't seem to be a Windows 8.1 Upgrade version available anywhere, so this is the path that a lot of people would take..
Re:Win 7 (Score:3, Informative)
It has worse multi-monitor support in my experience, the hi-dpi scaling is incredibly brain damaged and wants to scale things to different sizes between my 2 displays. I cant turn that off. Applications still open on a random monitor irrespective of which one i launch them from. It starts up faster because it doesn't start everything Windows does - stuff that i might want like oh I don't know - the desktop, and reconnecting to network shares (they are delayed until 5 minutes after login).
I've run 8/8.1 for 6+ months both at work and at home, and have downgraded back to 7 at work and am getting things done faster. If i include power button to opening things from the network - windows 7 is FASTER.
Power button to login screen on Windows 8 is faster, but that isn't useful to me.
Re:Windows 7 != Vista Sp2 (Score:3, Informative)
No, it's based off 2000.
Re:I have your conversion right here... (Score:4, Informative)
XP Mode is only for Windows 7 Pro, and Windows 7 Pro usually doesn't come on the low-end PCs that would be suitable for her. So in the end, it's a choice between "Stick with XP" or "Upgrade to an OS that's already 5 years old and get a higher-end version that usually only comes on slightly higher-end hardware for more money".