Posted on 03/12/2013 2:55:18 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A large number of Microsoft customers are in for a rude awakening on 8 April 2014.
With less than 400 days to go, 15 per cent of those running Windows XP are still unaware that that’s the date Microsoft finally turns off all support for its legacy PC operating system, according to a recent survey.
After 8 April next year, Microsoft will no longer make bug fixes or security updates for Windows XP, meaning customers will be naked and vulnerable to hackers and viruses and on their own in terms of code updates and fixes. Support for Office 2003 also finishes on the same date, with the same implications.
The findings come from a survey of 250 strategic IT types by application migration specialist Camwood, which polled chief information officers, technology officers and IT directors at organisations that run more than 2,000 PCs.
Fifteen per cent is a decent chunk of the Microsoft customer base. Windows XP is still used on 39 per cent of desktops – just behind Windows 7 on 44 per per cent.
XP was first released in 2001. Since its release, Redmond has pushed out Vista (2006/7), Windows 7 (2009) and its most recent OS, Windows 8 (2012).
Where there is awareness of the end of support, Camwood found 32 per cent of XPers still have not started migrating to newer versions of Windows.
That means this group will almost certainly end up running Windows XP past Microsoft’s April 2014 cut-off, and be in exactly the same predicament in terms of vulnerability to hackers and malware - and of course won't be receiving any code fixes.
Kevin van Heerden, Camwood’s head of software, told The Reg there’s no chance that those who have yet to begin the process will be able to migrate in time. Even a basic migration of just 1,000 PCs would take more than a year, depending on application and data complexity.
“Windows XP is the hackers port of call in terms of trying to get a foot hold and establish botnets,” Van Heerden told The Reg. “They are opening themselves up to risk. It’s like letting your car insurance expire – the car won’t stop working, but you are exposed to a lot of risk.”
The application migration specialist blamed the launch of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s frenetic push for consumer adoption of the new kit for the fact so many customers still don’t know about the end of support. The same was not true for previous versions of Windows, said Van Heerden.
Some customers are confused about whether to go with Windows 8 or Windows 7. This, of course, has implications from the perspective of the PC hardware that they will buy – whether it’s touch-enabled or not – and application migrations. This is adding another layer of decision-taking to the Windows XP migration debate.
“One customer said if you are going to push a new UI on employees, you might as well go all in and go Windows 8 rather than Windows 7,” Van Heerden said.
The software migration specialist says that in other organisations, there has been a grass-roots rejection of anything that takes end users away from their beloved Windows XP. “In a large percentage, they have had staff resistance – a grass roots saying they want to stay on Windows XP because they are familiar with it,” he said.
Van Heerden also said that there had been an absence of leadership from Microsoft on migrations, which he believed was caused by Redmond’s focus on consumers instead of businesses with Windows 8 - adding that the emphasis on product launches during 2012 had diluted messaging.
“There was a lot more buzz around the turn of the century because people were rolling Windows NT 4 and Year 2000 projects together, and there was an immense amount of IT experience. The move to Windows XP was a huge exercise on Microsoft’s part but last year was largest year in Microsoft’s history.
"With new versions of Windows Server 2012, operating system (Windows 8) and mobile, [Window XP migrations] are getting lost in the confusion,” he said. ®
There are a few things I miss, of course. I can’t understand GIMP at all, for one thing.
p
Load and process needing real-time, or always-on monitoring needing real-time? Because load and process is a piece of cake. TSR stuff is harder to do...
I've been meaning to learn to use GIMP for so many years that it is now clear I will never do it. Same with Photoshop.
Honestly not going to argue. Those companies should be supporting their equipment in all phases. While it may benefit a few of MS customers to maintain support for older OS’s it does not make financial sense to continue to spend resources for very people. So in other words your issues shouldnt be with MS but with the manufacturer of machines worth thousands and thousands of dollars but doesnt work on solutions to make sure support continues with newer OS’s. BioTech the company we use for our lab is able to get their older DNA sequencers and other machines to work with 7..our mass spectrometers..scales..recorders etc..all work with 7.
As matter of fact, those manufacturers do support all the latest and greatest. But... there is a catch. Those updates are not free. In the year 2001 WinXP was brand new. Imagine you bought some SuperCAM package around that time. You paid the money, and you are using that software for twelve years. Obviously the software that you bought in 2001 or so is not guaranteed to work on anything but what it was released for. You call the manufacturer. They are happy to hear your voice because the solution to your problem is to buy an all-new SuperCAM 2013, for a low price of $20K per seat. Your old, twelve years old license will count for $50. You have several workstations pushing programming to CNCs? Then please multiply by that number.
Some software vendors offer "maintenance fees." You pay a few $K per year per seat, but in return you get all the upgrades. In essence, this is just a different way to pay for the same stuff. You win only in the sense that your expenses are predictable.
Yet another catch is that even if you are willing to buy the new software, it may not support your "obsolete" equipment. The software manufacturer wants to minimize their development and support costs, so they periodically drop support of machines that are deemed "too old." If you are a happy owner of one of those machines, you are out of luck. Printers and other small computer electronics is a shining example of this obsolescence. Some people have to dump perfectly good printers because HP does not make Windows 7 drivers for them, and the old XP drivers do not work. As a home user you sometimes can discard a $400 barely used printer and buy a new one; at least, this price is manageable. But you cannot do that with expensive industrial equipment. Sometimes that equipment is no longer manufactured, or what is manufactured does not fit your process - and changes then cascade out of control. Nobody in his right mind will dump a factory floor full of machinery just because the OS vendor stopped pushing the patches. Chances are that the network runs behind an air gap, and there are no patches in those boxes since 2002. If so, it will run forever - you just keep replacing old computer hardware as it fails. But air gaps are expensive to maintain; a direct connection to Internet (for remote access) is so appealing to many sysadmins. In some cases Internet is the only way to connect box A and box B, since you cannot dig a trench and lay a private cable that is 1,000 miles long. That's why so much of US's infrastructure is open to hacking. Securing computer systems is not that easy, and the new talent for some reason does not want to run all over the country to fiddle with junky old boxes. This job is then given not to most capable but to least demanding. And here we are.
Yes. I use Classic Shell.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/
Even with Classic Shell installed, it is easy to get into situations where you absolutely need to know how to navigate Metro.
An excellent question!
The same thought occured to me before I migrated to Win7; There is NO WAY I am ever migrating to Win8!
(Posting more about this later)
I found this:
http://cnanney.com/video/win7-jump-bug/
Also:
http://superuser.com/questions/76808/windows-7-windows-explorer-jumpy-tree-view
Searching for other FAQ Forums... Here’s a bunch of others which might have an answer for you:
Lots more here:
From what I’m reading in a lot of these, certain ‘builds’ have the “jump bug”; others don’t. I have no clue as to why. Even some of Win-8 builds have it. All my units are free of it.
And there is a Linux system I have looked at called Qubes OS
Has a nice setup,...they say it is a Beta but worked with what I did.
Has multiple VM's setup,...one for regular Browsing,...One for Banking....etc.Firefox is the default Browser.
I haven’t used IE in so many years, I can’t count that high. I was a Netscape user from day one. Then, went to IE, quit it, moved to FF, something changed for the worse, and have moved-on and stayed w/ Opera for the past 4-5yrs. I swear by it.
I unpinned IE from the TaskBar yrs ago and it disappeared into “other programs mix” in the Start menu. Worst browser ever, IMO, when they integrated it into the O/S. It’s bugs/features affected the rest of the O/S, I found, causing problems with certain builds. A lot of niggling XP and Win-7 problems also disappeared when I quit using it. JMO.
What browser are you using, ‘Frog?
Nanny state protecting you from”BAD” sites.
Check eBay of course.
ost of the hits on Linux and the Mac are via JAVA,
Maybe there is a package out there.
If Microsoft won't provide support past 2014, can they prevent someone else from doing so?
I am no computer expert, but not a novice, either. I know that dozens of very useful (and some expensive) programs that run perfectly in XP run imperfectly, or not at all in Win7. I am living that nightmare right now. Upgrading is not simply buying and installing Win 7, but also repurchasing perhaps a dozen costly programs (if they are even available) to run on Windows 7. Not a trivial problem.
The only real alternative is to run a minimal Win7 system for downloading new data over the internet that can run on the old XP system provided one thing is possible.
If say, my XP system is up to date will all updates ever, and whatever residual bugs remain after 11 years, is it possible to save The entire WinXP program as an executable file complete backup that can be re-installed indefinitely on a 32-bit system designed to run XP?
Can Microsoft prevent anyone willing to do so from supporting WinXP forever?
Yep, and locking the server access to sites like this. Had it happen less than 2 minutes ago.
This is a very old Windows machine. I had to use some command line removal tricks to get it to forget what locked it up. Then it allowed access to FR again. Has happened before.
Paranoid? nope
Playing with the script kiddies.
Puppy is an outstanding one.
Big datacenters have a lot of old code that they run in Virtual Machines.
It would likely take a knowledgable System Programmer to work his way thru each of the individual programs.
Would allow moving to later PCs...that would not cost that much and would be much more reliable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.