Softpedia
 

NEWS CATEGORIES:



NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
MEET THE EDITORS >>
Home > News > Microsoft > Windows

October 27th, 2011, 16:01 GMT · By

Less than 900 Days Until Windows XP End of Life

SHARE:

Adjust text size:


Windows XP
Enlarge picture
Time is running out for Windows XP. There are now less than 900 days until Microsoft discontinues support for the decade-old operating system.

More precisely, there are 893 days until the Redmond company pulls the plug on Windows Vista’s predecessor.

In a sense, XP is already living on borrowed time, since Mainstream Support for the operating system was retired on April 14, 2009.

But as it is the case with a number of its products, XP transitioned to the Extended Support phase, which is scheduled to end on April 9, 2014.

Microsoft’s Alex Guy warned customers about the imminent deadline when XP support is “flicked to off, and no support means Windows XP becomes a significant risk for your business. After April 8th 2014 there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates,” he stated.

Microsoft made sure to mark the moment when XP support end date was 1,000 days away, and the company certainly urged customers to upgrade earlier this week.

On October 25, 2011, XP turned 10 years old, but despite this it’s still a major presence on the operating system market.

Like it or not, XP is all but obsolete, and users of Windows 7 for example can attest to this. it’s right about time for those still on Windows XP to plan to upgrade.

“It’s hard to believe it, but ten years have passed since Windows XP was first launched, and the workplace has changed quite a bit,” Guy added.

“Today’s businesses, big or small, face trends that were not mainstream a decade ago – highly mobile and distributed workforces, new compliance regulations, more consumer devices in the workplace, and an increased emphasis on operational efficiency. The modern workplace needs modern technology to support and embrace all these changes.”

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

3,684 hits · 6 comments · Link to this article · Print article · Send to friend · Subscribe to news

MUST-READ RELATED ARTICLES:


Windows XP Turns 10, Windows 7 Just 2 – Past vs. Future

Windows 7 SP1 vs. Windows 7 RTM, Vista SP2 and XP SP3 – Infection Rates Comparison

Upgrade to the Latest Software and Services for Optimal Security

IE9 vs. Chrome vs. Firefox – Windows 7 Is the Only OS That Matters

READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: Wiki on 27 Oct 2011, 16:12 UTC reply to this comment

Please think about poor people who cant afford to upgrade to newer versions. Please have some mercy on them sir !


Comment #2 by: Hadron on 27 Oct 2011, 21:43 UTC reply to this comment

Well Wiki, I am always impressed how as the average home user of a PC I am often told by faceless names from monolith sized companies as the consumer what I can and can not do, what I should and should not do and worst of all what I should buy and should not buy...I think if they want to stop supporting XP that is up to them but what they say is not nesscessarly so. XP is only obsolete in the sense that new technologies have been developed to surpass it and NOT that it is beyond use for the average home pc user and is still being used by the said average home pc user because it is simple, solid and STABLE. Not even Microsoft is going to tell me what to buy, I will buy an upgraded operating system if and when I need it and not because they think I should! Bollicks to Microsoft


Comment #3 by: Cineva on 28 Oct 2011, 01:05 UTC reply to this comment

"Like it or not, XP is all but obsolete" - I respectfully disagree.
I won't go into a debate as to why because that's beside the point.

Try as I might, I didn't get the feeling that Win7 enhances my workflow at all.
It's an eye candy, memory/disk space bloated (true, much less than Vista) OS when compared to XP.
Using the right desktop tools (tabbed file manager, a RAM disk etc.) and a stripped down version of XP, a 5-years old system feels much more responsive than under Win7 (with the same amount of RAM).
I've recently declined an offer to "upgrade" my system at work to Win7 (I work as a software engineer dealing mostly with .NET, Oracle databases and related IDEs).
The Win7 OS I'm currently writing from at the moment is scheduled to get the axe this weekend, in favor of an nLited up-to-date version of WinXP x64.
It won't be a Linux (I'll just virtualize on top of Windows) because I have some "unusual" hardware for which there are no Linux drivers.
And by the time the support for XP ends, I'll have already bought a newer machine, which will (hopefully) "handle" Win7+ at that point in time.

I have to say this, I've been reading Windows articles on Softpedia for years now on a daily basis,
but I honestly don't understand this campaign of (re)stating how obsolete XP has become, and how we "should" understand that upgrading is the only way to go, or else...
(XP still runs on about 40% of all the machines out there last time I checked.)

It's like I'm reading the Win7 release notes in every article about XP. It's like a never-ending Micro$oft promotional campaign for Win7.
I dread the thought of the same "upgrade ultimatum" article style when Win8 comes out.


Comment #4 by: arun on 28 Oct 2011, 04:05 UTC reply to this comment

xp still rocks


Comment #5 by: blassmegod on 28 Oct 2011, 05:52 UTC reply to this comment

After the EOL for XP, can we download and use Windows XP cracked iso's without breaking the law? Or we can still use GNU/Linux for free and legally? :-))


Comment #6 by: noname on 28 Oct 2011, 08:44 UTC reply to this comment

I'm writing this comment using windows XP. Even do I am full time Ubuntu user but sometimes I using Windows for playing games or working on graphic editing stuff. The best way for Microsoft is making Windows 8 as good as XP.

Copyright © 2001-2012 Softpedia. Contact/Tip us at

WindowsGamesDriversMacLinuxScriptsMobileHandheldNews

SUBMIT PROGRAM   |   ADVERTISE   |   GET HELP   |   SEND US FEEDBACK   |   RSS FEEDS   |   UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE   |   ROMANIAN FORUM