Life after Windows XP @ AskWoody.com

Life after Windows XP

Posted on November 19th, 2011 at 20:54 woody 17 comments

A guest editorial from Izzy Woods……

Despite being more than a decade old, Windows XP continues to be the most widely used operating system among both home and business users. Over half of all desktop computers still use XP, despite original equipment manufacturers (OEM) no longer installing it and Microsoft having released two subsequent operating systems into the mainstream – Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Indeed, Vista, often seen as a failure by many analysts, owes much to its lack of success to the reluctance of people to switch from XP to what users perceived as bug-ridden and a clunky system. Windows 7 has been more prolific in its use, partly because XP is no longer an option for anybody installing a new system, but many users with older machine are reluctant to upgrade even now.

A nice problem to have

XPâ€™s success has dogged Microsoft, who has wished for years that the popularity of the ageing operating system would wane. XP has affected sales. Both Vista and even Windows 7 have failed to reach sales figures that the software giant hoped for, and for a company that only has operating systems as its main revenue stream, despite branching out into the world of online search and other Internet businesses, XPâ€™s success has been Microsoftâ€™s undoing.

Users have solidly stuck with XP, regardless of the millions spent on ad campaigns and incentives to make them switch. And itâ€™s not just because of cost reasons, or because they didnâ€™t want change, they stuck with it because of XPâ€™s simplicity and usability. Rather than a complete new interface, Microsoft built XP on its other former success stories, Windows 95 and 98. People knew how to use these systems, knew how to do things – they grew up with them. The biggest challenge for Microsoft now, is when users are finally forced to switch from XP there are alternatives to choosing another Microsoft package. With the rise of the fabled iPad and Appleâ€™s resurgence in computing, people are becoming familiar with Appleâ€™s way of doing things, almost as familiar as they have been with XP. The danger for Microsoft is that many users may choose an Apple product or even Googleâ€™s Android system (if the company finaly gets around to releasing a desktop version), rather than the latest Windows product.

The end is nigh

And XP users will soon be forced to make that switch. All support for Windows XP will cease in 2014 – three years longer than originally planned – but a timeline that is marking the death knell for the most popular operating system in history. By this time, Windows 8 will probably be on the shelves, but Windows 7 will also still be around. And considering the preference demonstrated by XPs success for tried and tested operating systems, for users who donâ€™t migrate to an Apple or Android systems, Windows 7 may become the new XP, because it will be a system thatâ€™s had enough time to have its creases ironed out.

Fortunately, unlike Vista, Windows 7 hasnâ€™t been dogged with the same problems and is incredibly stable, and for home use, Windows 7 isnâ€™t too expensive, either. You could pay for it by trading in an old phone on a cash for mobiles site, for instance, although, for business users, multiple licenses may soon add up, and is perhaps one of the reasons businesses have been so reluctant to upgrade XP systems.

Of course, some users may refuse to switch, despite the lack of support. However, this will drastically undermine their systems and make them vulnerable, so the wiser XP diehards are looking to make the switch now, or at least are planning a migration. With Windows 8 still at least a year away, this means Window 7. The good news is that Windows 7 is very easy to use and has many new features that improve efficiency and reliability.Â Because all new machines come installed with Windows 7, it use is growing in popularity too and perhaps it will soon overtake XP in popularity, even before the 2014 deadline. If this is the case, and Windows 7 becomes the next beloved operating system, then it leaves Microsoft with the same problem caused by XPâ€™s popularity, how to shift users from Windows 7 to Windows 8. It seems Microsoft is going to be a victim of its own success again.

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17 responses to “Life after Windows XP”
1. Dave November 20th, 2011 at 01:07
  
  Of course it’s ironic that when XP was new it was commonly derided as being worse than Windows 2000. Since I always liked XP (had it until the last computer I had with it died), it’s nice to see it’s being recognized now.
2. rc primak November 20th, 2011 at 01:13
  
  Windows XP is not dead, but folks who cling to this obsolete form of Windows had better have a good reason to do so, not just “I don’t like change”. Moving forward, Microsoft is challenging Apple and Google directly in the Tablet market space, and things for Windows XP users who still want security and updates will only get worse. Windows 8 is now Microsoft’s focus, and there is no turning back.
  
  Google already does have a desktop operating system. It is called Chrome OS and they partnered with a notebook manufacturer to create the ChromeBook, now available only on line. What the future of Chrome OS will be looks very cloudy indeed, pardon the pun.
  
  As for migrations from Windows XP to Windows 8 — fugettaboutit! No one will be able to stand the jarring contrast between the mostly-desktop Windows XP user interface and the cloud-centric Windows 8 Metro paradigm.(I was using the Desktop version of Win8DP/IE10 to try to post this. But then the whole thing messed up. Don’t try installing Firefox with any privacy or safety extensions into the DP. It can’t handle this configuration yet.) But Windows 7 users have already had a chance to sample the desktop version of Windows 8, at least with regards to the general look and feel of using it. Metro (as currently being proposed) will be sort of familiar to iPad and other Tablet Device users. But XP die-hards are in for a world of pain. So are most companies which never went for the Vista and Windows 7 upgrades. Employee retraining will be a living Hell! That is not Mmicrosoft’s fault — if companies had upgraded steadily, and allowed Mobile Devices to connect to their networks, much of this pain and agony could have been avoided. Maybe this should be a teachable moment for Technophobes, Penny-Pinchers and Luddites.
  
  It will be awhile (several years) before we know how users choose to handle all these changes in Microsoft and its competitors. But I doubt that once folks get back on the upgrade treadmill, that they will ever again skip an important Microsoft upgrade, hoping for a return to the past. Microsoft cannot afford to move backwards, and folks will soon realize that. And no commercial competitor is going back to the Desktop Paradigm either, so ther are no alternatives for most users, including businesses. The PC is not dead, but it sure is changing! And the Operating System with its User Interfaces, as well (if not more so).
3. Randall November 20th, 2011 at 04:07
  
  As someone who primarily uses XP but has a Win7 PC, I advise XP users to consider Apple iMac before switching to Win7.
  
  It’s not that Win7 is bad, just that the change from XP to Win7 is a big deal and effort – and thus switching to Apple iMac is approximately the same effort. Plus many of your older peripherals may not work with Win 7 anyway.
  
  I am not an Apple fan – they do some things well, and some only average. But in general a mainstream user who does not need special programs or games will find Apple to generally work better and have fewer security issues. If in the past the effort to switch kept you from considering Apple, that is no longer true – the change to Win7 (and the coming Win8) is just as big as going to Apple.
4. rc primak November 20th, 2011 at 09:01
  
  Update and Correction:
  
  Windows 8 Developer Preview is not the problem i was having earlier today. AT&T Yahoo DSL Service was having outages all over the Chicago Western Suburbs. A call to their Tech Support hotline got a recording stating this. By evening, things are back up and running, and I only wish I had not reinstalled Win8DP before finding this out. Firefox 8 and Chrome 15 are doing just fine in Win8DP, thank you. The Chrome-Win8 combo is what I am using for this posting. 64-bit Flash Player 11 plug-ins are also installed in here.
5. rc primak November 20th, 2011 at 09:07
  
  Did I mention… ?
  
  That this is a Windows 8 controlled Dual Boot configuration. I would never tolerate the performance hit of trying to run Win8DP in a Virtual Machine. I’ve been multi-partitioning and multi-booting since the days of DOS 6 and Windows 98SE, so yes, I knew what I was doing beforehand. The Lifehacker website was also a great help.
6. Steve November 20th, 2011 at 10:14
  
  While I use Win7 as my daily box, I also use WinXP for a secondary device. I chose XP on this one for a variety of reasons;
  1) I spent alot of time and effort to truly “Know” XP, inside and out.
  2) It’s easily to setup a variety of services on it. (Excellent box to backup to with any type of BU software)
  3) Huge library of proven software that “just works”. (without having to worry about “compatibility”)
  4) Security risks well known & alleviated. (MS Security Essentials, Chrome & understanding open/closed ports)
  5) Folder structure is easy to traverse (not the goofy a$$ shit that is win7)
  
  Regarding XP’s 9 lives, in general terms, it can be summed up quite easily. XP was in place when PC growth exploded. NON TECHNICAL, everyday home users bought their first pc and it had XP on it. They don’t want to spend time learning an OS, they want to surf the web or harvest their Farmville crap. Their current XP OS is tolerable and the thought of learning a new OS repulsive. Users are NOT OS centric like many of us tech people.
7. Steven Latus November 20th, 2011 at 22:47
  
  I switched over to Vista from XP when I got my then-new PC in September 2009 and switched again to Windows 7 once the free upgrade was available from Dell a few months later. I did not think that the interface of either OS was so radically different from XP that it was a difficult transition (and I also thought that Vista was fine – I couldn’t believe it was the same OS I had seen badmouthed in the computer press for years). Sure, there are some differences between XP and Win 7 (for the better, IMO), but I believe if you sat most XP users down in front of a Windows 7 PC and didn’t say a word, they would not have a problem and would probably wonder what all the fuss was about. BTW, I use XP at work. One thing I missed at work once I first started using Windows 7 at home was jumplists, but I found a nice freeware utility called Folderguide which provides much of the same functionality in XP. And the freeware utility AeroSnap provides XP users with the Win 7 WIndow Snap feature.
8. sanda November 21st, 2011 at 02:17
  
  I learned on my used, rebuilt laptop, which has XP, using Woody’s book, ten in one on XP Pro for Dummies. I’m old, only online 4 years and in no hurry to activate an ISP on the new already out of date laptop with Windows 7 installed (and I have Woody’s Windows 7 for Dummies). I’ll worry about 2013 or 2014 when it’s closer because who knows if I’ll even be around or able to afford a wireless broadband connection any longer.
9. Ax Kramer November 21st, 2011 at 03:29
  
  Actually I liked Windows 3.11, True Type Fonts, and the Mother of All Windows Books. With the three of them I had all the computer and word processor that I really needed, and detailed information on how to maximize their value. Thanks Woody.
10. Julio November 21st, 2011 at 22:14
  
  The big issue for me is peripheral and hardware compatibility for my three XP machines. If they work with Windows 7, then I have no problem migrating.
  
  Windows 8, however, is another matter entirely. I don’t see how a tablet-centric OS can provide the same simple functionality of the Start button, Task bar, and System Tray. I bought a Galaxy Tab 10.1 recently and can deal with the new touch paradigm -for casual use. But, as a desktop interface it would leave a lot to be desired.
11. Athlonite November 22nd, 2011 at 01:52
  
  I can say with honesty that the only reason I miss XP is for the older games that I own,other than that, W7 is the best OS I have used. Work, (which is now just a memory as I am retired) was up to date when I left a couple of years ago. Meaning I was working with Vista and on very compatible equipment. Yes, Vista was a bit different than XP but, Not as most will have you think. All of my peripherals worked well and had no complaints. Granted, I also had Vista at home but, the transition was very easy. With the right hardware, Vista is still a good OS.
  
  I now game on a Asus G73J with Lots of space, an I7 core and 8 Gigs of memory and updated to 7 Ultimate. No problems with either of my printers (which one is 6 years old) or any of my external HDDs, external speakers or Voip phones.
  
  I would certainly recommend people using XP at least take a look at Windows 7. They would probably be amazed at the speed and the ability to work and easily find their way around with this OS.Not to mention all of the new services this OS offers.
  
  I will worry about Windows 8 when I upgrade this gaming PC. For now, I have no complaints with compatibility.
12. Tom R. November 23rd, 2011 at 00:14
  
  I went straight from Windows 98 to Windows 7, with only a few glitches. If I can do it, so can all those Luddite XP users. (Here’s a hint: Woody’s book saved my bacon.)
13. Gindy53 November 25th, 2011 at 03:11
  
  Absolute non-techie husband went from XP to 7 with no learning curve. He crashed and burned with Vista, as did semi-techie daughter. We ditched the Vista and most of us use our 7 machines as they are faster, have better games, and are hooked to bigger monitors. The XPs are mostly for travel (netbooks) or the “kid’s games” computer in the guest room. I upgraded that XP desktop to a faster memory and larger drive for almost nothing a few months ago and it is just as fast as the 7 machines.
  I am interested in Windows 8 but may just upgrade one at a time. Least expensive system first and then go from there. I am not sure how my husband will take something extremely new. It was like pulling hen’s teeth to get him to just try the 7 OS.
14. Alan Dee November 26th, 2011 at 21:22
  
  The WWII air combat online game Aces High (MMORPG) via Texas, USA , prefers and excels at using XP. Their company owned servers are Trojan free, guaranteed by their programming troubleshooter computer guru, not to infect my OS. I can drop my Norton 360 firewall and antivirus and worry not to ever pollute my operating system with the various un-niceties one usually gets in such a situation (has not happened, yet). Bad thing about using Norton 360 or McAfee is, they are so cumbersome, and never can really be completely turned off, which does effect/affect game play.
  
  My new machine I scratch built (summer 2010) all parts from NewEGG.com with Windows 7 Ultimate in 64-bit on a mid-frame desktop based on the i7-920 Intel cpu. But I play Aces High on another hard drive in Windows 7 Home in 32-bit and using the newer Windows own freebie firewall and its antivirus, “Windows Security” is what I think it is named and when turned on, does not seem to hinder game play.
  
  My new PC’s primary C: drive is Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit. I later added the Windows 7, 32-bit as a dual boot on a separate hard drive. I am considering, also, another dual boot add-on of my Staples purchased Windows XP Pro that I used to run on my old Dell, to the same machine on that separate partitioned 2nd drive but I worry a little bit about XP overwriting and screwing up my boot manager. Both the books, “Windows 7 Inside Out” and the IT based book, “Windows 7 Unleashed” get into the guts of fixing that probable mess up that may occur.
  
  What peeves me is, I buy the big thick books to learn from; I have not mastered XP, yet. Then I get Windows 7 and more thick books and ditto as to not fully using it. And the next newbie will be out too soon enough.
  
  My two cents worth concerning XP, by a 60 year old, not yet, quite a nerd/geek and probably mis-informed as I waste my money on the upward climb of a very large learning curve.
  
  I heard too much bad about Vista, so I never bought it.
  
  My next scratch built gaming machine I already have in mind what I will build will cater more to the flight simulator war gaming community, Digital Combat Simulator of the Ka-50 Black Shark and the Warthog fame. Most likely I will wait for the next new Windows OS before I build it.
  
  (BTW, my old Dell, I put Ubuntu on it and man oh man—that learning curve for an uninitiated newbie to Linux.)
  
  {;^)
15. rc primak November 27th, 2011 at 13:41
  
  Windows 8 Developer Preview works well with any of a variety of touchpads or drawing tablets which worked well under Windows 7. Once you get into the concept that Metro is basically the old Windows Start Menu flipped on its side, and once you have an input device which can handle horizontal scrolling (mine is a very cheap external USB touchpad with its own drivers), Windows 8 really isn’t all that bad, in my brief experiments so far.
  
  Windows 8 has Compatibility Modes and Legacy Hardware Modes which reach all the way back to Windows 200 in many instances.
  
  Metro Tiles can be relocated to put your desktop applications within easy reach from the Metro Interface. Not all desktop applications will pin into the Metro Interface, but a lot of them will do so as if they are being pinned to the good old Start Menu.
  
  This is a radical departure from the traditional desktop, but you can locate the desktop tile and click into your traditional environment, unplug the touchpad and go back to the keyboard and mouse, and most applications for Windows 7 will work just fine.
  
  Some desktop applications will need to be upgraded for Windows 8, but I am surprised at how many devices and drivers already work with the Developer Preview. All of my favorite free programs and utilities from Windows 8 (including Macrium Reflect Backup, version 5) have worked with few glitches under Windows 8 Developer Preview.
  
  We have come a long way since DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, folks. And we have a long way to go. But don’t dwell on the flash and glitz and tablet-centric views being presented on those YouTube videos of Windows 8 Metro. That’s only one side of this decidedly schizophrenic operating system. At least, that’s how things look to me at this point.
  
  All things are subject to change until there’s a final Release Candidate.
16. rc primak November 27th, 2011 at 13:47
  
  That’s “Windows 2000″, not “Windows 200″ Compatibility isn’t THAT comprehensive!
17. rc primak November 29th, 2011 at 00:56
  
  Error Number Two: Those Applications I am finding compatible are from Windows 7, not Windows 8. Obvious typo there.
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