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Still Using Wndows XP…. Anti-Malware Support Ends In Less Than A Year

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on July 23, 2014 by itnerd

Windows XP may not be getting patches anymore. But it’s still getting Anti-Malware support from Microsoft. At least for now because that will run out in less than a year. Thus if you’re still on XP which 1 in 5 SMEs are still using XP, that will leave you more exposed than you are right now by not having security updates.

Now to drive the point home, 10ZiG has a countdown clock for this. When it reaches zero, you might want to be on another Microsoft OS to ensure that you’re safe.

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One Week To Go Before Microsoft Ends Mainstream Support For XP

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 8, 2009 by itnerd

So…. If you’ve got XP, what does that mean for you? I managed to find a really good article on the subject here, but here’s what this means in a nutshell:

  • Security issues will continue to be fixed by Microsoft until 2014.
  • Bugs won’t be fixed…. Unless someone pays up.
  • No phone support except for security related issues, unless you pay for “extended support.”

This isn’t really as dire as it sounds.

Windows XP has been out for 7 or 8 years. By now, the major bugs are out of the OS and all that’s really left are security issues. Windows XP is stable, reliable, and it has value as demonstrated by the steady stream of stories discussing the end of support for Windows XP, downgrade rights from Vista to Windows XP, etc. So Microsoft may be doing the smart thing by ending mainstream support if you look at it from that perspective. I suppose that time will tell on that front. But one thing that I will throw out there is that Microsoft may change their mind and push this date out a bit seeing as netbooks are coming with XP and Microsoft will allow people with Windows 7 to downgrade to XP. Plus if Windows 7 isn’t the home run that they think it is going to be, then they’ll have to scramble to keep the revenue stream going. That means XP.

Anybody else have any opinions on this? Please leave a comment if you do.

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Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Downgrades For All

Posted in Commentary with tags , , , on April 7, 2009 by itnerd

I guess that you can mark my story from yesterday as confirmed. ZD’s Mary Jo Foley has word straight from Redmond that downgrades from Windows 7 will be possible. Not only that you could downgrade back to XP, Windows 2000 or even to Windows 95 too:

MJF: Does Microsoft have downgrade rights for Windows XP planned as part of Windows 7?

Microsoft spokesperson: Yes. This is not the first time that Microsoft has offered downgrade rights to a version other than its immediate predecessor and our Software Assurance volume-license customers can always downgrade to any previous version of Windows. (Note: Microsoft changed the statement from “Software Assurance” to “volume license” Monday afternoon.)

(The spokesperson clarified later that downgrade rights allow users to install previous versions of Windows, not just the most recent predecessor. In other words, a Software-Assurance-covered volume-license user who wanted to downgrade from Vista could, technically, go back to Windows 2000 or even Windows 95, not just XP. Who knew?)

The story also notes that this will be the case for all OEMs and not just for HP. One can expect that downgrade rights will be attached to the Ultimate and Professional versions of Windows 7. Which means that home users who want XP will either have to pay more, or they’ll head to the Apple Store instead for a Mac.

It will be interesting to see the full details of this program when they emerge. Stay tuned.

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XP Gets A Stay Of Execution? Again?

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on April 6, 2009 by itnerd

The folks at AppleInsider are reporting that Microsoft has given HP permission to sell Windows XP on new Vista machines until April 30th, 2010:

The announcement hasn’t been made publicly, but AppleInsider can exclusively report that according to a source within Hewlett Packard, Microsoft has granted the PC giant an extension to its existing rights to continue selling the nearly eight year old Windows XP on the company’s business desktops, workstations, and notebooks in place of Windows 7 for another year.

Microsoft isn’t excited about the XP extension, as the internal communique provided by the source stated, “It’s important to remind customers that Microsoft are still planning to retire XP Pro Mainstream support on April 14th 2009 and will only provide OS security updates beyond that date unless the customer has an Extended Hotfix Support contract. MS Extended Support for XP Pro ends on April 8th 2014.”

According to the article, Microsoft is still ending mainstream support on April 14, and it’s gonna cost you to downgrade. But assuming that this is true, mainstream support could be extended. Then there’s the fact that one has to wonder why a Apple rumors website would be reporting on this. Perhaps they’re taking some joy in the failings of Vista? Who knows. Another thought….. Are Dell, Lenovo and others getting the same deal? Or is HP the only one? Assuming that any of this is true of course.

Until there’s confirmation, you may want to file this under “plausible rumor.”

Oh, there’s also one other tidbit that is worth mentioning from this article:

Microsoft has billed Windows 7 as a completely new operating system, but company executives also admit publicly that the release is really a relatively minor update to Windows Vista.

“Windows 7,” CEO Steve Ballmer stated, “is Windows Vista with cleanup in user interface [and] improvements in performance.”

That means that many of the reasons customers have for not migrating to Vista will also be reasons for not wanting to shift to Windows 7, making the availability of an “XP downgrade” an important factor to vendors selling Windows PCs.

Interesting. The only comment that I can make on that from my experience with the Windows 7 beta, it gives the user the impression that it’s Vista…. Only that it works this time around. I hope for Microsoft’s sake that the general public doesn’t find out about this. True or not, it may send the running to the Apple Store…. Again.

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Windows XP Gets Six Month Extension….. Again

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on October 3, 2008 by itnerd

I guess sales of Windows Vista must really suck. Because according to The Register and confirmed by News.com, Windows XP lives for another six months for OEMs to include XP recovery disks or even to “downgrade” from Vista. This is the second extension since the OS shipped last year. According to the News.com story:

“As more customers make the move to Windows Vista, we want to make sure that they are making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible,” Microsoft said. “Providing downgrade media for a few more months is part of that commitment, as is the Windows Vista Small Business Assurance program, which provides one-on-one, customized support for our small-business customers.”

Let me translate that for you: “Vista sales really suck. So we’re forced to pop XP in the box to encourge people to buy PC hardware while we use some slight of hand to record a Vista sale. That way everybody wins.”

The News.com story notes that Microsoft Chief Executive Chair Thrower Officer Steve Ballmer noted that 180 million copies of Windows have been sold to date. The question is, how many copies of Vista are actually being used.

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Today Is The Last Day To Buy A Computer With Windows XP!

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 30, 2008 by itnerd

No last second stay of execution seems to be coming for Windows XP as today is the last day you can buy the OS pre-installed on a system. Of course as I’ve mentioned previously, Dell will nail you for an extra $50 to downgrade from Vista Ultimate or Business to XP Professional, so if you want it you can still get it.

One has to wonder if Vista continues to suck not be the operating system that people want, will XP reappear? Let’s revisit this in three months time and see. In the meantime if you want an XP machine, get your order in today!

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Bill Gates Flips Out Over Windows XP Usability…… Staff Duck and Run For Cover

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 26, 2008 by itnerd

One of the reasons why I like to read the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is that it often comes up with all sorts of juicy tidbits about Microsoft. Take this leaked e-mail. It’s several pages of Gates just thrashing his design and programming staff for his personal experience when trying to install Windows Moviemaker among other things. Here’s an example:

“I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don’t drive usability issues.”

If he’s disappointed about that back in 2003, one must wonder how he feels about Vista. Anyway, here’s another:

“I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack … so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.”

Bill Gates has to BUY something from his own company? WTF? But there’s more:

“This site is so slow it is unusable.”

With a comment like that, I’m guessing the guy in charge of Microsoft.com got escorted out shortly thereafter. Oh yeah, there’s this too:

“The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don’t you just love that root certificate message?)”

Gee. It almost makes you feel giddy that William H. Gates III has problems with Windows just like the rest of us. Imagine that! You’d think after an a**kicking like that, his staff would improve Windows so that the usability is better. But clearly they didn’t and now we’re stuck with Vista which has worse usability.

Clearly, Microsoft doesn’t learn from its mistakes.

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Windows XP Support Pushed Out To April 2014…. I Wonder Why?

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 24, 2008 by itnerd

Windows Vista totally sucks isn’t moving off the shelves, so it comes as no shock that Microsoft has extended Windows XP support until April 2014 which includes security patches and other “critical” updates. That’s 13 years after it originally shipped (Microsoft usually kills support for its products after 10 years). According to Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte:

“Our ongoing support for Windows XP is the result of our recognition that people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years,”

Wrong answer. It’s recognition that Vista isn’t being installed by businesses who are Microsoft’s cash cows, and they have to keep the cash coming in somehow. But wait, there’s more:

“It’s true that we will stop selling Windows XP as a retail packaged product and stop licensing it directly to major PC manufacturers [after June 30],” wrote Veghte. “But customers who still need Windows XP will be able to get it,”

After all Microsoft, you have to sell what people want. Right now that’s not Vista.

This is proof positive that Vista is looking more and more like a failure in the marketplace. No wonder Microsoft is already talking about Windows 7.

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Dell Keeps Windows XP Alive Until The 26th… Cites “Popular Demand”… Duh!

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on June 21, 2008 by itnerd

Sure you can get nailed for up to $50 more for an XP machine soon enough. But if you want a honest to goodness XP machine without paying the extra $50 from Dell, you’ve got until June 26th to get one because of “popular demand.” I take that to mean that Vista sucks isn’t what people want, so Dell is simply responding to customer demand.

Since we’re talking about Vista, things are looking up for it. Someone actually got a printer working with Vista, although it took a Microsoft engineer to personally visit his house to get it going. But hey, at least Microsoft is focusing on customer service.

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Dude! A Dell With Windows XP Will Cost You Up To $50 More!

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on June 19, 2008 by itnerd

You want to buy a Dell, but you want an operating system that actually works Windows XP. Well, according to this Computerworld article, that’s going to cost you an extra $50 depending on what you buy. If it’s a Vostro, you pay $20 – $50 depending on what you get. However Latitude, OptiPlex, Precision get $0 upgrades downgrades to XP. This is to get around the June 30th Microsoft imposed deadline to stop shipping computers XP. What Dell is doing is taking advantage of the downgrade rights built into Vista Business and Vista Ultimate. That loophole allows Dell to install Windows XP Professional in lieu of Vista, although Vista is still shipped with the machine so that the new PC owner can downgrade upgrade from XP to Vista if it actually works right in the near future when the time is right. I wrote about how this makes both Dell and Microsoft happy in a previous post.

I would expect other PC companies to do the same thing so that they don’t lose business to Dell. When I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

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