14 DAY TRIAL // The clock is ticking for Windows XP, and, according to Microsoft’s very own death schedule, the 13-year-old operating system is projected to be retired in less than 10 days.
Windows XP, however, won’t go away without a fight, and it’s pretty clear that, although Microsoft has turned to all kinds of scaring tactics just to make sure that Windows XP will disappear completely as soon as possible, that’s not going to happen.
Users love Windows XP too much to let it go so easily, so expect this simple but powerful, user-friendly and intuitive, reliable and very fast operating system to be around for a few more years.
According to those third-party statistics provided by market researchers, Windows XP still has a share of 29 percent on the desktop. To be honest, that’s not at all surprising, but, after all, it could also be a sign that Microsoft has clearly failed its mission to drive people to Windows 8.1.
Microsoft knows that Windows XP won’t go away
Redmond acknowledged a long time ago that Windows XP wouldn’t be killed completely by April 8 but did mention that cutting its market share down to 13 percent was a thing that could be done. It appears that the Softies have once again made the wrong assumption, and Windows XP continues to be the second top operating system worldwide.
There are many reasons why Windows XP still survives, but I won’t talk about them today. Either it’s the love for the clean UI or the lack of another better alternative for low-spec computers, Windows XP is still fighting for its life and, as things seem to develop, it’ll continue doing the same thing for many years from now.
Windows 8.1 surely is a much safer and reliable operating system than Windows XP. There’s no doubt that it provides better performance. Nobody can deny that it supports more technologies than its predecessors. It can also be used on touch devices too. But it doesn’t work on older computers, and convincing people to cut their food budget and instead purchase a new computer to replace Windows XP is hard.
Things could change soon. Word is that Microsoft itself is planning to lower system requirements of future Windows versions and the first such tweak is likely to be implemented in Windows 8.1 Update scheduled to be unveiled sometime next week. 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage space are expected to be the main requirements, which is clearly a major improvement.
The problem is that Microsoft relied too much on scaring tactics and forcing users to step away from Windows XP, so now that it’s finally making a change that really comes in handy to everyone, nobody is interested anymore. What’s worse, some users no longer trust Microsoft.
“Terrorizing” users doesn’t work
Here’s what Steve Smith, one of our readers, told us in an email a few days ago, when he discovered that Microsoft had started updating Security Essentials to show Windows XP end of support notifications:
“I think Microsoft has really pulled a fast one this time. This is what I would call deceiving the end user and then terrorizing him until he switches to Microsoft's preferred operating system.”
Yes, that’s true, users feel “terrorized” by these tactics and they’re obviously fighting back. Want to know what Steve Smith did after seeing all these warnings popping out on his screen? He used System Restore to return his computer to a previous state.
“I had restored my computer to an earlier time before the installed update (I keep good backups of my hard drive). If I didn't keep good backups then I would be very frustrated right now.”
Windows 9 to the rescue
That’s how Windows XP users think and as far as they’re concerned, nothing can be changed now. They want Windows XP to live on, and, even though Microsoft goes on with its plans to discontinue the operating system, many XP users will continue running the same old OS version on their computers for a long time.
Redmond seriously needs to consider its options, as users have already made their point very clear, and, unless most of these problems are addressed, Windows XP will continue to be a very popular operating system. Some believe that Windows 9 might be the one pulling the plug on XP, but unless it’ll be offered for free, it’s hard to imagine that users would be willing to upgrade. And we all know that Windows for free is the last thing on Microsoft’s agenda.
No matter what Microsoft thinks, Windows XP will survive the XPocalypse. Even though the majority of users will eventually surrender and make the switch to a newer operating system, be it Windows, Linux, or maybe Mac, there’ll always be one man who stands up and screams “I love Windows XP!”