Posted on 04/14/2008 6:23:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
Microsoft Corp.'s operating systems run most personal computers around the globe and are a cash cow for the world's largest software maker. But you'd never confuse a Windows user with the passionate fans of Mac OS X or even the free Linux operating system. Unless it's someone running Windows XP, a version Microsoft wants to retire.
Fans of the six-year-old operating system set to be pulled off store shelves in June have papered the Internet with blog posts, cartoons and petitions recently. They trumpet its superiority to Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest PC operating system, whose consumer launch last January was greeted with lukewarm reviews.
No matter how hard Microsoft works to persuade people to embrace Vista, some just can't be wowed. They complain about Vista's hefty hardware requirements, its less-than-peppy performance, occasional incompatibility with other programs and devices and frequent, irritating security pop-up windows.
For them, the impending disappearance of XP computers from retailers, and the phased withdrawal of technical support in coming years, is causing a minor panic.
Take, for instance, Galen Gruman. A longtime technology journalist, Gruman is more accustomed to writing about trends than starting them.
But after talking to Windows users for months, he realized his distaste for Vista and strong attachment to XP were widespread.
"It sort of hit us that, wait a minute, XP will be gone as of June 30. What are we going to do?" he said. "If no one does something, it's going to be gone."
So Gruman started a Save XP Web petition, gathering since January more than 100,000 signatures and thousands of comments, mostly from die-hard XP users who want Microsoft to keep selling it until the next version of Windows is released, currently targeted for 2010.
On the petition site's comments section, some users proclaimed they will downgrade from Vista to XP - an option available in the past to businesses, but now open for the first time to consumers who buy Vista Ultimate or Business editions - if they need to buy a new computer after XP goes off the market.
Others used the comments section to rail against the very idea that Microsoft has the power to enforce the phase-out from a stable, decent product to one that many consider worse, while profiting from the move. Many threatened to leave Windows for Apple or Linux machines.
Microsoft already extended the XP deadline once, but it shows no signs it will do so again. The company has declined to meet with Gruman to consider the petition. Microsoft is aware of the petition, it said in a statement to The Associated Press, and "will continue to be guided by feedback we hear from partners and customers about what makes sense based on their needs."
Gruman said he'd keep pressing for a meeting.
"They really believe if they just close their eyes, people will have no choice," he said.
In fact, most people who get a new computer will end up with Vista. In 2008, 94 percent of new Windows machines for consumers worldwide will run Vista, forecasts industry research group IDC. For businesses, about 75 percent of new PCs will have Vista. (That figure takes into account companies that choose to downgrade to XP.)
Although Microsoft may not budge on selling new copies of XP, it may have to extend support for it.
Al Gillen, an IDC analyst, estimated that at the end of 2008 nearly 60 percent of consumer PCs and almost 70 percent of business PCs worldwide will still run XP. Microsoft plans to end full support - including warranty claims and free help with problems - in April 2009. The company will continue providing a more limited level of service until April 2014.
Gillen said efforts like Gruman's grass-roots petition may not influence the software maker, but business customers' demands should carry more clout.
"You really can't make 69 percent of your installed base unhappy with you," he said.
Some companies - such as Wells Manufacturing Co. in Woodstock, Ill. - are crossing their fingers that he's right. The company, which melts scrap steel and casts iron bars, has 200 PCs that run Windows 2000 or XP. (Windows 2000 is no longer sold on PCs. Mainstream support has ended, but limited support is available through the middle of 2010.)
Wells usually replaces 50 of its PCs every 18 months. In the most recent round of purchases, Chief Information Officer Lou Peterhans said, the company stuck with XP because several of its applications don't run well on Vista.
"There is no strong reason to go to Vista, other than eventually losing support for XP," he said. Peterhans added that the company isn't planning to bring in Vista computers for 18 months to two years. If Microsoft keeps to its current timetable, its next operating system, code-named Windows 7, will be on the market by then.
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On the Net:
Save XP Petition: http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/
Microsoft's Windows support timeline: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy
Will Windows 7 be more like this:
or this:
Why do I suspect the later.
I'm not going to be rude (as you were to me) and tell you "You don't know what you are doing" and "You bought the wrong laptop". You don't know me or anything about my tech knowledge, and you have no idea what I bought, so your statements are not only rude and arrogant, but absurd.
I respect your opinion and your experience, and your economic freedom, so I'm happy for you that your Vista experience was good and you like it.
I do know what I'm doing, thank you very much, and my experience with Vista was negative so I acted accordingly and went back to XP. It's a free country, and this is a discussion forum for folks who believe in freedom, so if you don't like that, you can go play in freeway traffic, rude boy.
That’s one of the problems with Desktop Linux: When something goes wrong, sometimes it requires an expert to figure it out.
I found a document from a couple of years ago about how to fix the CUPS configuration in Ubuntu. Maybe they’ve already fixed it by now.
Fixing CUPS on Ubuntu Linux -
http://varspool.blogspot.com/2006/07/fixing-cups-on-ubuntu-linux.html
The main page for the CUPS printing system project is -
As a side note, CUPS is also used as the printing system in Mac OS X.
Try this link too. It should connect to the CUPS administration interface on your Ubuntu host -
#166 above should have been posted to you.
Try it again - #166 above should have been posted to you.
““Ctrlaltdelete””
I tried that on a friend’s Vista Laptop and nothing happened.
I have problems with the Gates Foundation, too, but that is not the same entity as Microsoft.
No, not the same legal entity—but run by the same people.
I am currently finishing my MBA program and they provide a laptop for the duration of the program. It’s a nice laptop with XP as the operating system The tech guys at the school say it will be a cold day in hell before they use Vista on any of the schools systems.
I smell them going to Mac soon.
I, personally, am saving up for a Mac when I finish in June of 2009. I want a nice MacBook Pro. It will be my first Apple computer. Now I have had two iPods and I own an iPhone, good pieces of equipment. If their computers are anything like these items, I will enjoy it for a long time to come.
I have XP running right alongside OS X on this MacBook Pro. Works fine (or, at least as well as anything from Microsoft can work...)
Billie G. laid the foundation for this when he limited the number of installs you could do from one XP disc.
Now, after June, I bet you won’t even get tech support to authorize a re-install for you!
What are you smoking? WTH are you raving about?
Even though I now connect to my printers wirelessly via Airport, in nearly thirty years of using Apple products (starting with an early Apple //+) I have NEVER "lost a printer"...
You can be a Microsoft sheep if you want -- but don't base your decisions on stupid fantasy!!! And don't propagate lies...
Mac users read stories like yours and simply can't believe that folks put up with such hassles...
Next Windows O/S name:
Windows KaBoom.
Windows Freeze.
Windows/Broken.
Windows LastChance.
Windows SuperHog.
They did it because it probably could run the leanest form of Vista (therefore, technically vista-compatible.)...
Simple: Unix, Mac, or again, stay with XP.
Dang! I lost my baggage once in an Airport! Just you wait! Your printer will end up in Mumbai one day!.............
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