Microsoft killing free XP support next week Microsoft will drop free support for handful of aging products next week, including consumer versions of Windows XP and Office 2003. On April 14, the Redmond giant ends "mainstream" support for Office 2003 in addition to Windows XP Home and Professional. This means the software will no longer include no-charge incident support …
Does this mean that all updates, bug fixes and service packs already produced will no longer be available for fresh installs of XP? Or just that there won't be any new ones?
Surely a lot of people who've just bought Mickysoft netbooks are going to need access to those for a while yet?
Who cares about mainstream support anyway, I've never met anyone in the IT sector that had to call MS a single time, if the issue was unsolvable, then reinstall, if there is incompatibility, roll back previous Win version, if NT4 is required, run it inside VMWare...
My take on this is that the "double downgrade" straight to XP is a contingency measure. If Windows 7 turns out not to have as easy a time running on a netbook as MS hopes, or if for some other reason Windows 7 encounters the same kind of push-back in the market that Vista has, then MS is not just conceding the only really hot market segment in the computer business these days to its competitors. If worst comes to worst they can soldier on with XP on netbooks.
If, on the other hand, Windows 7 achieves the hoped for success on netbooks and elsewhere it would not surprise me much to see the option to "downgrade" to XP being withdrawn fairly aggressively in order to push the user community back into MS's desired upgrade schedule. I hasten to add that this is just my guess, I have no inside information on the subject, but it does seem to fit the available facts.
I am not going to rule out Windows 7, but I shall not hurry.. And Linux seems easy enough to use on this netbook. The only market advantage MS seems to have is inertia. And lazy teachers in schools.hat did happenyothat series of
What did happen to your series of Linux articles?
If they ever had it, XP is probably one of the most popular OSs around with around 60%, so why drop support? I suppose its not the latest and most expensive operating system any more & Microsoft wants us all to use something thats shite, gets on your tits and costs a bomb.
@AC - I have a Novell 3.1 server that has been running for about ten years.
I thought the MS policy was to flog a beta version of a product and then as developers caught up issue updates to bring the product into line with the advertised functions. Due to those nasty hacker type people, MS also have had to take some time out to correct basic programming and design flaws in the name of security fixes, to maintain market share. If they hadn't bothered, how many people would now be on a different platform using different products.
Too date, after being involved with IT since the 70s, I never realised that MS offered genuine free support.
Whenever I HAVE called Microsoft fro support; even to report bugs and issues, I get a big fat zero in response anyway. I'm not going to start paying for the nothing I get in response.
If Microsoft support was actually worth anything, then it would be worth paying for ... but .. well ... it's just not worth it.
If they want to make money, they should just charge on the premium lines. I recall many years ago when a colleague was on hold for the best part of an hour and actually fell asleep while on hold waiting for a Microsoft representative to actually answer the phone.
Suits me. XP is Microsoft's best OS to date and that keeps it alive until then. Few corporates want to touch Vista with a bargepole and with lessons learnt about Vista, few will touch Windows 7 for many years after launch, assuming it's okay (and of course typically wait for SP1 or better SP2).
Unless Win7 is gobsmackingly better and performs as good as XP on current spec PCs (I doubt it will), I see no reason to upgrade short of my PCs dying.
I've a hunch the dopwngrade right from Win7 to XP is primarily aimed at corporates buying volume licences, who will still be rolling standard XP builds to desktops for some time, at least until they've had time to give 7 a long pilot test.
It's standard practice for MS Volume Licensing to only sell licences for current products, but then allow you downgrade rights to install previous versions until you're good and ready to migrate.
I suspect things would be a lot worse if it wasnt for netbooks and the Intel Atom and similar. The threat of Linux on netbooks is probably the only reason XP is still available. I am suprised that MS are continuing critical updates until 2014, I was expecting 2010 or 2012.
I assume MS might have come up with a proper upgrade and a product people want by 2014.
After having gotten a bagle worm / rootkit / trojan "thing" all in the one go, and seeing just how easialy MS's douchbag windows defender, the security updates and patches, and safe boot and system restore - were knocked out - like a cockroach under a Sunday news paper.
Never mind all the other security products that were turned off and stopped from reinstalling too......
If they are such a wonderfully innovative company - how come they are not fixing this stuff up - which has been such a huge pain in the ass for so many consumers, for such a long time.......
Or rephrased - if they can't make the effort to get this crapware fixed and secure, then what is going to change next time around?
NOTHING.
MIcrosoft has already been phased out on all my PC's - and Linux is improving in leaps and bounds.
Why? - Because Microsoft is not worth shit.
And unless you are a billion license customer - their support is non existent.
But they will bend you over backwards to avoid giving any service at the premium prices via clueless IT students reading scripts, from call centers in cheap skate deals in low wage countries.
Crap software + Crap service = Crap Company.
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