Bye Bye XP?
As Windows 8 is widely acknowledged to be an utter disaster, why on Earth haven't the Micro$oft tosseurs brought out something for grown-ups which is as user-friendly as WinXP, if they expect XP users to change?
As has been said, people are going to continue to use WinXP for many years yet, thanks to the garbage which is Win8. Even though Micro$oft are trying to frighten them into paying hundreds of pounds/dollars/€uros to scrap perfectly good systems.....
And don't bother telling me how wunnerful Mac systems are....
As has been said, people are going to continue to use WinXP for many years yet, thanks to the garbage which is Win8. Even though Micro$oft are trying to frighten them into paying hundreds of pounds/dollars/€uros to scrap perfectly good systems.....
And don't bother telling me how wunnerful Mac systems are....
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
something for grown-ups which is as user-friendly as WinXP, if they expect XP users to change?
SD
MS is far from being the only ones telling people they need to use something different It's just sensible advice because using an unsupported OS online is a risk, and being WinXP it's an even bigger risk as it's a great fat juicy target with a well developed set of hacking tools to hand and plenty of very experienced WinXP blackhats to use them. It's a fair bet that some very nasty exploits will come to light after April 8th.
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Linux user and have no association with MS.
As SD says there's Win7 and yes, the Metro interface is a dog on the desktop but add something like ClassicShell and it's quite usable.
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Linux user and have no association with MS.
As SD says there's Win7 and yes, the Metro interface is a dog on the desktop but add something like ClassicShell and it's quite usable.
Rather a lot of airlines are still using XP, so when it goes u/s I suspect there will be the usual Aviation customer service problems. Tents at T5 and T4 again soon?
I think M$ are dropping themselves in it big time by stopping support for XP.
After April 8 millions of people will continue to use XP, many oblivious to the potential risks. Many of these machines will end up having security comprimises and rightly or wrongly people will blame Micro$oft.
Millions of others will now rush out and buy a new machine, retailers, in order to cash in, will bump up the prices and people will blame Micro$oft.
Those new machines, if people stick with Windows, will come with Windows #8, or to put it more accurately number two because a lot of people think its crap. Thats right, you guessed it, millions of people will blame micro$oft.
They are losing a LOT of customer goodwill by doing this. Many people are happy with XP because they dont need a powerful gaming platform or a thousand useless apps or want all this social media connectivity crap or cloud computing BS.
After April 8 millions of people will continue to use XP, many oblivious to the potential risks. Many of these machines will end up having security comprimises and rightly or wrongly people will blame Micro$oft.
Millions of others will now rush out and buy a new machine, retailers, in order to cash in, will bump up the prices and people will blame Micro$oft.
Those new machines, if people stick with Windows, will come with Windows #8, or to put it more accurately number two because a lot of people think its crap. Thats right, you guessed it, millions of people will blame micro$oft.
They are losing a LOT of customer goodwill by doing this. Many people are happy with XP because they dont need a powerful gaming platform or a thousand useless apps or want all this social media connectivity crap or cloud computing BS.
Last edited by Private jet; 22nd Mar 2014 at 15:41.
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Meanwhile back at the ranch - changing the XP OS directory name seems to allow the progs to run as SD said, but changing the user profile folder name (denying much of the app data) throws a wobbly.
- confusion? Not what the others think! By "XP installed programmes" I mean programmes installed with XP as the OS - simples? I cannot think of any better way to say that. The opinion appears to be that an "XP installed programme" will still run in Win7 without the XP OS.
(PS I am not intending to 'boot into XP')
Out of interest, none of the 'old' Office suite runs in Win7 with a changed XP directory name, so I assume some part of the installation depends on the XP OS.
Originally Posted by mixture
I think the confusion from me (and it seems others here) was your mention of
"XP installed programmes "...... kill your ability to boot XP and you'll kill those programs too.
"XP installed programmes "...... kill your ability to boot XP and you'll kill those programs too.
(PS I am not intending to 'boot into XP')
Out of interest, none of the 'old' Office suite runs in Win7 with a changed XP directory name, so I assume some part of the installation depends on the XP OS.
Until it came to light your were dual booting I didn't know what you were meaning by "XP installed" - didn't make a lot of sense.
The only reason these particular programs will run is that they're "old school" and don't use the registry. Old school as in designed for Win98. Most more modern software unless it's designed to run "portably" will use the registry and can't be run except through the OS it was installed on.
The only reason these particular programs will run is that they're "old school" and don't use the registry. Old school as in designed for Win98. Most more modern software unless it's designed to run "portably" will use the registry and can't be run except through the OS it was installed on.
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Millions of others will now rush out and buy a new machine, retailers, in order to cash in, will bump up the prices and people will blame Micro$oft.
At the level of anything you as an average Joe home user buys, the competition is fierce, and price point has been overused as a competitive tool that margins have been eroded.
Seriously. We're talking generally about a 5% margin, maybe 8% if you're lucky. Dealing with average Joe home users, its all a bit box-shifting volume game.
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Heavens above! At the time the programmes were installed, in fact, I was 'dual booting' 2000 and XP and sometimes triple with Linux, but these programmes were downloaded and the mouse clicked to install under XP if that makes it clearer? I am NOT dual booting now if that helps? I cannot really see what 'dual booting' has to do with the query.
Your last para does not agree with mixture
Your last para does not agree with mixture
Does the 'Run as XP' option require the XP OS? I guess it will need the XP registry?
Of course not. Everything that function needs is built into Windows 7/8.
Of course not. Everything that function needs is built into Windows 7/8.
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I mean programmes installed with XP as the OS - simples?
If you installed the software as you should, under Windows 7, then I can't see a reason why it shouldn't work unless there are some weird library dependencies.
Maybe you'd like to fire up Paint and sketch us a diagram of how said software inter-relates to Windows 7 and your legacy XP system.... sometimes a picture = 1000 words as they say ;-)
Out of interest, none of the 'old' Office suite runs in Win7 with a changed XP directory name, so I assume some part of the installation depends on the XP OS.
If the latter, then I'm not at all surprised you broke it.
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Any MS Office programs will need to be reinstalled, so that the W7 registry knows where the program lives. Any program that had data written to the XP registry will need to be ri installed unfortunately.
Do you really need to dump XP?? It will continue to operate as well as it does on the day support is stopped. Those who write programs to exploit vulnerabilities, will be targetting W7/8/9(?) and no doubt forget XP exisits.
Those businesses that continue to use XP, will probably do so, due to the difficulty in migrating their systems to newer platforms.
Do you really need to dump XP?? It will continue to operate as well as it does on the day support is stopped. Those who write programs to exploit vulnerabilities, will be targetting W7/8/9(?) and no doubt forget XP exisits.
Those businesses that continue to use XP, will probably do so, due to the difficulty in migrating their systems to newer platforms.
It wasn't clear what you meant by "XP installed programs" - were they installed in XP: dual boot? VM? XP mode on Win7 Pro? XP compatibility mode? Simply copied from elsewhere?
I understand you aren't booting XP but the programs you are running are part of a dual boot installation.
It's been many years since I've touched Win9x but many programs installed their own directory tree and used .ini files to store settings. Copy the required bits to another computer & it would run. You'd end up with multiple copies of some runtime files of assorted version numbers scattered all over your system because each program brought their own copy.
The fact the programs are ancient and actually run under the arrangement you have would suggest they're of the type outlined above. i.e. all you likely need is the directory tree for the program for it to run.
Avtrician, what makes you think the baddies won't target WinXP? If we believe Netmarketshare's figures WinXP still had a 29% market share in February 2014, meaning there will still be several 100 million PCs running it. I'd call that a huge fat juicy target, and a static one to boot. Qnce a flaw is discovered it will be there forever unpatched. Looks like easy pickings to me.
Not to mention that flaws in one Windows version often affect other versions as well. Every patch released for Win7 is potentially addressing a flaw that also exists in WinXP. The patch will be reverse engineered and exploits created to attack those flaws. WinXP will be included in the exploit as it costs very little extra to do so.
I understand you aren't booting XP but the programs you are running are part of a dual boot installation.
It's been many years since I've touched Win9x but many programs installed their own directory tree and used .ini files to store settings. Copy the required bits to another computer & it would run. You'd end up with multiple copies of some runtime files of assorted version numbers scattered all over your system because each program brought their own copy.
The fact the programs are ancient and actually run under the arrangement you have would suggest they're of the type outlined above. i.e. all you likely need is the directory tree for the program for it to run.
Avtrician, what makes you think the baddies won't target WinXP? If we believe Netmarketshare's figures WinXP still had a 29% market share in February 2014, meaning there will still be several 100 million PCs running it. I'd call that a huge fat juicy target, and a static one to boot. Qnce a flaw is discovered it will be there forever unpatched. Looks like easy pickings to me.
Not to mention that flaws in one Windows version often affect other versions as well. Every patch released for Win7 is potentially addressing a flaw that also exists in WinXP. The patch will be reverse engineered and exploits created to attack those flaws. WinXP will be included in the exploit as it costs very little extra to do so.
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Do you really need to dump XP?? It will continue to operate as well as it does on the day support is stopped. Those who write programs to exploit vulnerabilities, will be targetting W7/8/9(?) and no doubt forget XP exisits.
Oh what it is to be so naive !
(a) The dark side will be well aware there will be a whole generation of clinger-ons like you ... and they will take much enjoyment from "p3wn'ing" your system. XP users are a dream for them .... they know their exploits will never get patched, and there will be a reasonable number of XP clinger-ons ... as a result they can demand and get $$$ for their exploits on the black market.
(b) As well as XP specific exploits, they will also be looking at 7/8 exploits and backporting those to XP.
So no, they're not going to leave you alone and forget about it. Infact, I fully expect more rather than less XP exploits to become available, and that those XP exploits will be quite nasty !
Those businesses that continue to use XP, will probably do so, due to the difficulty in migrating their systems to newer platforms.
For home users, there is only one option.... get rid of XP. There is no excuse.
The same goes for mom & pop small businesses..... get rid of XP. There is no excuse.
Large Businesses & Government have more options because they have a well financed IT department and the money to pay Microsoft for XP support (the NHS for example are about to write Microsoft a cheque for £40m to cover extended XP support.... for 12 months ). The cost and hassle of supporting obsolete systems is simply not worth it unless you have to.
However you will find that even large businesses & government are moving away from XP unless they absolutely need to stay.
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Aha! So that's it, the uk NHS and, no doubt, local authorities can buy ongoing support.
So what about the small users? If support is possible on large systems, it must also be possible on small systems, and if m-soft refuses surely this puts it open to independent companies to offer support? In fact, doesn't it make XP an open-market product? Look for some interesting legal cases in coming years!
So what about the small users? If support is possible on large systems, it must also be possible on small systems, and if m-soft refuses surely this puts it open to independent companies to offer support? In fact, doesn't it make XP an open-market product? Look for some interesting legal cases in coming years!
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If support is possible on large systems, it must also be possible on small systems, and if m-soft refuses surely this puts it open to independent companies to offer support? In fact, doesn't it make XP an open-market product?
Microsoft have given every man and his dog more than enough notice about the impending obsolescence of XP (EOL first announced 14th April 2009). The fact people are too lazy to have done anything about it is not Microsoft's problem.
Do you realise how much it costs to maintain a complex codeset such as those in operating systems ? Microsoft cannot be expected to support everything forever. They now have support for 7 & 8 running, and are busy working on 9 .... so its only to be expected that they have to drop old products in order to make way for new.
There won't be any "interesting legal cases". And there won't be any "independent support" ... the XP source code remains Microsoft's own intellectual property.... only the same idiots who use XP after April would trust third-party patches !
I've already made it clear above why Microsoft give large government and businesses the opportunity to pay for support .... its because they have legacy systems that will take longer to migrate (or in the case of the NHS they've simply got a vast PC estate of some one million plus PCs... that's just going to take time to get into every nook and cranny). Home users and small business do not have such legacy systems or large estates, and thus they have no excuse not to migrate away from XP.
That'll work really well Henry, particularly when it's finally settled sometime after 2025 and MS has no-one left who knows anything about the code and the last time it was maintained was 2017. Would you really be prepared to pay $200 in the first year, $400 in the second and $800 in the third for support? That's what MS is charging per seat.
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Probably a bit late to this thread. but Under Win7, you can run XP Mode, which is a Virtual PC running Windows XP. It works fine, I use it regularly to run some older software.
BTW, not sure why everyone rags on Win 8. Its exactly the same as Win 7 outside of the UI. If you dont like the UI, you can install the 8.1 service pack and you can revert it back to the old UI.
I am really getting to like Windows now. I run it as my main OS, then run XP,Ubuntu and Red Hat in Virtual Machines. Now I just need to figure out how to make OSX run under VM and then I am down to just one PC and one Laptop.
BTW, not sure why everyone rags on Win 8. Its exactly the same as Win 7 outside of the UI. If you dont like the UI, you can install the 8.1 service pack and you can revert it back to the old UI.
I am really getting to like Windows now. I run it as my main OS, then run XP,Ubuntu and Red Hat in Virtual Machines. Now I just need to figure out how to make OSX run under VM and then I am down to just one PC and one Laptop.