Windows XP diehards: Can you survive April 2014 deadline?

Some organisations intend to keep running Windows XP after support ends next April, but the options for doing so safely are narrowing.

To those planning to stick resolutely with the aged Windows XP operating system even after Microsoft ends support next year, the advice from experts is simple: Don't do it.

But despite the chorus of warnings, there are fallback measures for diehard XP users, who could still constitute as many as 40 percent of businesses. One in five of the organisations currently using the OS intend to stick with it after the 8 April 2014 end-of-life deadline for support, according to research from software consultancy Camwood.

Read more at: Windows XP diehards: Can you survive the April 2014 deadline? | ZDNet

 

[lehnerus2000]

WGA

I think Microsoft should've installed a killswitch into Windows XP that can be disabled by adding a registry key. Then the people who need XP for mission critical tasks could've just added the key while those that are sticking with XP because they never upgrade or update will be forced to do something.

It'd be risky though, and it would've had to have been in XP for a long time.

They did.
It was called WGA.
It was another unbridled success that endeared MS to the people.

 

[SpyderBite]

From a consumer or small business perspective, There are only two reasonable excuses for not abandoning XP yet.. Legacy hardware or legacy software.

This scenario exists in the Mac OS world as well with people who rely on software that won't run on the newer versions of OS X or their antiquated hardware is not compatible with the latest version of OS X.

This isn't a Windows exclusive discussion.

But the business expense reasoning no longer holds water. If your legacy hardware/software hasn't paid for itself 10x over a period of almost 10 years then perhaps it is time to close the proverbial doors and accept that your business is not successful or even self sustaining. There are leasing options, discounted licensing and tax write offs available for those businesses who need to upgrade.

Even the freelance professional should be able to afford a $700 PC and the latest edition of whatever professional software they are using such as Photoshop, CAD, etc. If not, then perhaps it's time for them to reconsider self employment.

Not trying to be mean. Just realistic. I worked many years for both Apple and Microsoft (obviously not at the same time) consulting businesses and professionals and the only times I've experienced push back with an upgrade plan was when the upper management was more interested in investing money in to their bonuses than in newer technology.

 

[CountMike]

On the other hand, I have seen, repaired and worked on many industrial machines, 50 and more years old that with the addition of some newer controls and were much cheaper and more productive than most new ones that had to be changed every few years. Same with cars, had a 66 Mercury pickup and when my boss wanted to buy me brand new one just to see my crushed, I refused and told him that my pickup was 30 year old and would run 30 more and a new one would be dust in that time. Same with computers and OSes if it works and does what needed keep them and let them do what they are supposed to. There's a 386 with Win 3.1 that I recently repaired, happily running a saw mill operation and there's nothing new that could replace it. So I found 2 more of the same MBs and video cards and gave it to that friend of mine so he can run the operation many more years.

 

[labeeman]

On the other hand, I have seen, repaired and worked on many industrial machines, 50 and more years old that with the addition of some newer controls and were much cheaper and more productive than most new ones that had to be changed every few years. Same with cars, had a 66 Mercury pickup and when my boss wanted to buy me brand new one just to see my crushed, I refused and told him that my pickup was 30 year old and would run 30 more and a new one would be dust in that time. Same with computers and OSes if it works and does what needed keep them and let them do what they are supposed to. There's a 386 with Win 3.1 that I recently repaired, happily running a saw mill operation and there's nothing new that could replace it. So I found 2 more of the same MBs and video cards and gave it to that friend of mine so he can run the operation many more years.

And no DRM to mess with.

 

[Coke Robot]

On the other hand, I have seen, repaired and worked on many industrial machines, 50 and more years old that with the addition of some newer controls and were much cheaper and more productive than most new ones that had to be changed every few years. Same with cars, had a 66 Mercury pickup and when my boss wanted to buy me brand new one just to see my crushed, I refused and told him that my pickup was 30 year old and would run 30 more and a new one would be dust in that time. Same with computers and OSes if it works and does what needed keep them and let them do what they are supposed to. There's a 386 with Win 3.1 that I recently repaired, happily running a saw mill operation and there's nothing new that could replace it. So I found 2 more of the same MBs and video cards and gave it to that friend of mine so he can run the operation many more years.

When I read that you repaired an Intel 386 based PC with Windows 3.1, I couldn't compute! Holy crap! Was there literally nothing newer than the year 2000 that could had been used? That makes me so curious....

But I agree, certain machines can be used WELL past their sell by date. My car for example, is 23 years old and for the past few summers I've been working on repairs, restoring it, cleaning it, and replacing things in it to last another 23 years and more. It makes me laugh when I see adverts for cars that have an "Eco" option for the drive mode. Oh please, my car has TWO eco buttons, one for the transmission and the other for the AC compressor. Even some newer cars these days actually have some design of mine, a swooped hatchback five door sedan.

 

[legacy7955]

@cokey:

I don't want to go too far OT but I'm a car guy and I'd love to know which car you have.

I have a 1984 VW Rabbit GTI with 213k on it and it looks and runs like new, and has had no major issues ever. I'll never sell it and will continue to drive it around 2-3 days a week.

 

[Coke Robot]

@cokey:

I don't want to go too far OT but I'm a car guy and I'd love to know which car you have.

I have a 1984 VW Rabbit GTI with 213k on it and it looks and runs like new, and has had no major issues ever. I'll never sell it and will continue to drive it around 2-3 days a week.

I'll be glad to take this off topic.

I have a 1990 Mazda 626 five door, a VERY rare car to find in the States as that particular model was only exported from Japan for only a few years to the US. I bought the car about 8 years ago and it literally was never driven a lot by the previous owner since I'm barely about to hit 100,000 miles soon. Right now, it's at 92Kish. It's still a virgin.

I doubt I'll ever sell it as it in VERY nice condition for one, although it does need some work under the hood like new engine mounts as one went fouled a long time ago I guess and shifted the engine block a quarter of an inch. AC needs work of which I'll be doing very soon as it is hot as hell and I refuse to drive another summer in that car without AC. It's really a perfect summer car honestly, although I'd love a 2001 BMW 525i with a standard transmission as my winter car as those have rear wheel drive so it will be MUCH more ideal in snowy conditions.

 

[CountMike]

On the other hand, I have seen, repaired and worked on many industrial machines, 50 and more years old that with the addition of some newer controls and were much cheaper and more productive than most new ones that had to be changed every few years. Same with cars, had a 66 Mercury pickup and when my boss wanted to buy me brand new one just to see my crushed, I refused and told him that my pickup was 30 year old and would run 30 more and a new one would be dust in that time. Same with computers and OSes if it works and does what needed keep them and let them do what they are supposed to. There's a 386 with Win 3.1 that I recently repaired, happily running a saw mill operation and there's nothing new that could replace it. So I found 2 more of the same MBs and video cards and gave it to that friend of mine so he can run the operation many more years.

When I read that you repaired an Intel 386 based PC with Windows 3.1, I couldn't compute! Holy crap! Was there literally nothing newer than the year 2000 that could had been used? That makes me so curious....

But I agree, certain machines can be used WELL past their sell by date. My car for example, is 23 years old and for the past few summers I've been working on repairs, restoring it, cleaning it, and replacing things in it to last another 23 years and more. It makes me laugh when I see adverts for cars that have an "Eco" option for the drive mode. Oh please, my car has TWO eco buttons, one for the transmission and the other for the AC compressor. Even some newer cars these days actually have some design of mine, a swooped hatchback five door sedan.

This 386 SX16 is used to directly control a log saw about 30m long and has 3 ISA control cards specially made for it controlling 12 relays, so not much newer MB could be used, maybe a 486 or Pentium 1 eventually, but those old MBs were made like tanks and are not bothered by power fluctuations in a remote location and on a few occasions by diesel generator. Software is just as old and would have to be rewritten for anything newer and besides it would be pretty difficult to retrain an 60yr. old lumberjack. So it keeps on chugging and if it was not for a nearby lightning strike it still would not need a repair. Would not even let me replace an old 12" IBM monochrome monitor, "colors distract him " he said.
PS. what do you mean year 2000, try 1995.

 

[XweAponX]

I would imagine that there will be some people who will gather up the most important updates for XP and maybe put it online somewhere.

At the end of Windows 98, some people put up a service where it attached to the Windows Update service with slight modifications, and downloaded all of the last updates and service packs. This stayed online for almost a year, until people started getting accommodated to Windows 2000- They urged people to skip over ME completely. I don't remember if MS Yelled about it, but I don't recall if they were able to stop it.

Later, there were "releases" of Windows 98 that you could download and it had all of those last updates pre-installed. I suppose, someone with gather up all of the important Windows XP Updates all in one place and allow people to download it.

When Vista came out and some OEM's would refuse to release Windows XP drivers for their machines, HP and Toshiba were two of them, many websites popped up offering Driver Disks for Toshiba Satellite Laptops and some HP Workstations. I think these sites still exist, but they ask money to create a Disk for your particular machine now, to cover burning and mailing the disks. Usually it's about 17 bucks flat.

MS will probably start yelling about this, but hey, they are stopping support, basically releasing their interest in these OS's, so what happens to them, to they fall into Public Domain? That's what should happen.

 

[XweAponX]

They did.
It was called WGA.
It was another unbridled success that endeared MS to the people.

Haha - And It was instantly defeated.

When WGA came out for XP, they blocked off all of the keys that were being used that had "FCGK" or something as the first four digits of the key. SO when you tried to download updates, you got a fairly rude message from Windows Update.