Microsoft bets on Windows XP disaster...

[ShyWriter]

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Microsoft bets on Windows XP disaster

 Makes obvious prediction -- since it's calling the shots -- that ending support for XP will mean 'more systems will get compromised'

 

By Gregg Keizer
December 12, 2013 04:17 PM ET

Computerworld - Microsoft today used the hoary practice of predicting next year to drive another nail into Windows XP's coffin.

 

In an eight-item prognostication from several security professionals on its anti-malware and Trustworthy Computing teams, Microsoft forecast an increase in cybercrime that exploits unsupported software.

 

Microsoft's No. 6 prediction put the spotlight, and the onus, on Windows XP.

 

"This venerable platform, built last century, will not be able to keep pace with attackers, and more Windows XP-based systems will get compromised," prophesied Tim Rains, director of Trustworthy Computing, in a long post to Microsoft's security blog on Thursday.
 

Windows XP isn't quite "last century," at least to users; it may be old, very old in OS terms, but it wasn't released until September 2001.

 

Still, it is creaky, as any 12-year-old operating system would be. (By comparison, the same-aged Mac operating system would be OS X 10.1, aka Puma, a long-dead OS that required just 128MB of system memory; ran on the long-deserted PowerPC processors co-designed by Apple, IBM and Motorola; and was handed out as a free upgrade from OS X 10.0, or Cheetah.)

 

Microsoft has set Windows XP's end-of-support party for April 8, 2014, less than four months from now, and has given absolutely no hint that it will backtrack from that schedule.

 

Even if the end of support kills -- or allows infections for -- millions of still-used PCs.

 

According to analytics vendor Net Applications, Windows XP powered 34% of all Windows PCs last month. And with a two-month stall in decline, it now appears inevitable that the antique OS will be running more than one in every four PCs come April.

 

"The most effective way to protect systems in the current environment, where drive-by download attacks are so popular with attackers, is to keep all software installed on them up-to-date with security updates," said Rains.
True. But easier said than done.

 

Nor was Microsoft's 2014 prediction a trip to the ledge's edge: Rains has rained on Windows XP's parade before. In October, he extrapolated data on PC infection rates to conclude that XP users will face a dramatic uptick, perhaps a hike by two-thirds, in attacks after April 8 because patches won't be provided to the public.

 

And like some predictions, Rains' was self-fulfilling. Microsoft is, after all, the one pulling the plug on users. Users aren't abandoning XP, at least not in numbers large enough to suit Microsoft.

 

But most outsiders don't see Microsoft letting this prediction fall flat: Even analysts who once believed the company might be forced by events to continue patching have retracted those statements as Microsoft has failed to breathe a word of any last-minute lifeline.

 

If a bookie will take Rains' bet, put down some money. It's as certain as the sun coming up tomorrow..

 

SOURCE: https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244757/Microsoft_bets_on_Windows_XP_disaster

 

Steve

[David H. Lipman]

It will also mean more systems will be purchased as replacements are sought that can run Win7 and Win8.x.

[AdvancedSetup]

I predict Windows XP will still be at least 15% of all computers running Windows on April of 2015.    Now I'll need to bookmark this prediction and see how well I did another 16 months later.

[noknojon]

I predict Windows XP will still be at least 15% of all computers running Windows on April of 2015. Now I'll need to bookmark this prediction and see how well I did another 16 months later.

When you look at all the larger businesses (private and public) that still use XP Pro you will not kill it in a very short time.

Many public hospitals (including our large public) and doctors all use XP and often know not much else about this change. I only know of 1 that uses a Mac System now.

After being in there several times in the last month, I found that they have no idea that there is a change going down, and that it is going to be very soon. The figures above will be about the normal for 12 months after the so called "change".

 

Most of the people I talked to had no idea that anything was changing, and only the younger students were using Windows 7, with none on Windows 8, They may be top medical minds, but their IT departments are not going to get the systems up to current (Windows 8) in a month or even 3...

 

IT Departments are mostly to blame for not changing systems.

MBAM will still cover XP, as will most Antivirus / Antimalware companies for another 2 or 3 years, and if they do not, it is a lot of MONEY they are going to lose ..............

[whonew]

I love my Window XP and can not find my way around this Windows 7 , that I am using.

[noknojon]

I love my Window XP and can not find my way around this Windows 7 , that I am using.

Windows 7 is not much more than XP on steroids.

Just wait till someone first puts a Windows 8 system in front of you.

How do I turn it on > How do I get there > What is this tab ETC, ETC,

Yet the lady next door just got a Windows 8 tablet (never had a computer) and she flies into everything that is installed easier than most people can work out how to use a new cell phone.

Windows 7 runs 90% of the programs that XP ran plus much more -

Run as Administrator is about the main change you need to make -

[Mark]

Windows Explorer got weird with Vista (relatively speaking) and the weirdness made it to 7. There are ways to tweak the way we see things in Explorer so we get something close to the full and simple tree we have/had in XP. Took me a while to set things up to my liking when I switched to Vista. After Vista, 7 was a breeze. I really loved the visual changes/goodies that came post XP though, like Aero. Couldn't look at XP after that

[David H. Lipman]

You'll Love Win8.x Explorer "Ribbons". 

[CWB]

the first time i used W7 it took but a very short time (while concertedly applying myself to the task at hand) to "learn to navigate" in the GUI .

i did grumble a little bit at a couple of items (eg : the change in the download activity pop-up) .

an item i immediately liked was the right click to add/do *something* . with XP adding a folder or sub-folder was a hit-n-miss operation ... sometimes it would work and sometimes the word "new" appeared . in W7 this has not happened to me (yet) .

 

there are a couple of other changes , such as the "control panel" section/items ... my preference is to use separate categories that individualized as much as possible . i do not like many items "lumped" under one of severs special category names .

the biggest pain for me was the change from "add/remove programs" to "programs and features" and the placement of those items in the "stack" .

 

perhaps it is like the difference between shifting a 3-speed transmission and a 4-speed transmission ... no matter how much i might wish that things between the two were the same , it aint never gonna happen .

there may be similarities between the two but that is where it will end .

/i won't even get into "5 speed dual range brownie" and "13 speed allis/chalmers"

[mountaintree16]

I really like W7.  I REALLY miss filmstrip, though, for viewing pictures... but, I kinda found a way around it hehe.

[Jacktivity]

@MT16 - Have you checked out Windows Photo Gallery?

 

Looks to have very similar functionality. I love it on my W7 system for simple viewing/rotating/printing.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/photo-gallery

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/photo-gallery

 

IrfanView is also good plus you have some additional editing capabilities.

This is not Photoshop though. Not the intention.

http://www.irfanview.com/

Don't miss the additional plugins

http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm

 

Sorry if this post is off topic. I know Ron is pretty strict about that.

[Firefox]

I predict Windows XP will still be at least 15% of all computers running Windows on April of 2015.    Now I'll need to bookmark this prediction and see how well I did another 16 months later.

I say you will probably be right, if not higher on the percentage....

[Porthos]

I feel that the death of XP will be determined by 3rd party software and hardware vendors. If you can not get things like printers and other peripherals or even software like Office AV software ect. It will be like getting those for 95,98,2000 Me.

 

It will start becoming more difficult to find drivers for XP as time goes on. At least for the normal user.

[AdvancedSetup]

One would think eh!   Don't know the exact numbers without going and checking it out but it appears that there are still enough numbers of Windows 98 machines that some sites that track the OS show them.  If the numbers are too low they say that there are not enough numbers to list so I have to believe that means there are still at least some amount of Windows 98 computers still out there running and accessing the Internet. 

[mountaintree16]

@MT16 - Have you checked out Windows Photo Gallery?

 

Looks to have very similar functionality. I love it on my W7 system for simple viewing/rotating/printing.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/photo-gallery

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/photo-gallery

 

IrfanView is also good plus you have some additional editing capabilities.

This is not Photoshop though. Not the intention.

http://www.irfanview.com/

Don't miss the additional plugins

http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm

 

Sorry if this post is off topic. I know Ron is pretty strict about that.

Thank you Jack!

 

I will check all of those out

 

I was also thinking about trying GIMP again for photo editing too.

[Porthos]

One would think eh!   Don't know the exact numbers without going and checking it out but it appears that there are still enough numbers of Windows 98 machines that some sites that track the OS show them.  If the numbers are too low they say that there are not enough numbers to list so I have to believe that means there are still at least some amount of Windows 98 computers still out there running and accessing the Internet. 

But for example MBAM will not work on anything older than XP at this time. In the foreseeable future Mbam will probably stop supporting XP as well like they did Win 2000. Im sure its all up to future Windows changes and what It costs to do so.

 

The 3rd party factor....

[daledoc1]

 so I have to believe that means there are still at least some amount of Windows 98 computers still out there running and accessing the Internet. 

 

The current posts over at bleeping would suggest that this is indeed the case.

 

Maybe we should have a contest: "Closest guess -- without going over -- on the % of XP computers still alive on April 9, 2014"?

We could have various categories: U.S., North America, China, India, WORLD,  desktop, laptop, home, enterprise, etc.

Just kidding.

[Amethyst]

I have one XP desktop stashed away...  It was having a few minor issues and the CD/DVD writer hasn't worked for a few years, but other than that, we probably could have kept going with it for a while yet.  If we had replaced the power supply fan yet again, that is.  (For some reason, this particular computer kept requiring power supply fan replacements.   We've had it in 3 times, and the fan was starting to make 'those' noises occasionally once again before we got the new laptop.)

[BobFor]

over hype,

 

I'm a part time tech, If the printer , camera and scanner you have now work ,on April 7th do a clean up and scan then do a backup with acronis true image using the f12 key to recover( using their instructions ) and I can't see why you would have problems especially if you use a free 2 way firewall like on line armor and a good free anti virus and anti spyware program.

 

Bob 

[CWB]

I have one XP desktop stashed away...  It was having a few minor issues and the CD/DVD writer hasn't worked for a few years, but other than that, we probably could have kept going with it for a while yet.  If we had replaced the power supply fan yet again, that is.  (For some reason, this particular computer kept requiring power supply fan replacements.   We've had it in 3 times, and the fan was starting to make 'those' noises occasionally once again before we got the new laptop.)

 

i sure wouldn't take my machine back to that shop .

what is needed in this case (or so it would seem) is a "double ball bearing fan" as it looks like cheapo "sleeve" or "bushing" bearing based fans were used (for the replacements) .

(this is barring vast quantities of dust and dirt)

 

a new cd/dvd player/burner is 16 to 20 bucks at newegg .

 

on another note ...

for a file viewer you might give "Irfanview" a try ... it is a good program .

at the main site , click on "other download sites" and then scroll down to "majorgeeks" (which i know to be clean) and use the two provided links to download the files .

http://www.irfanview.com/