{"id":811,"date":"2014-04-09T23:54:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T04:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/?p=811"},"modified":"2014-05-28T10:43:26","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T15:43:26","slug":"windows-xp-is-undead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows XP is Undead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Background:<\/strong>\u00a0 Like the undead, Windows XP&#8217;s installed base continues to live, even after the Microsoft-published End-Of-Life (EOL) date of 4\/8\/2014.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>What &#8220;End of Life&#8221; means, is that Microsoft no longer provides free updates, namely security updates, for the operating system.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Unlike other Microsoft operating systems, and due to many factors, Windows XP has a huge installed base.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article details the XP EOL event, including the good, the bad, and how Microsoft could have handled this better.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more Click here to read more!--><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\"><p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/div><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#why-is-there-still-a-large-xp-installed-base\" >Why is there still a large XP installed base?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#a-brief-history-of-windows\" >A Brief History of Windows<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#windows-version-lifecycle-units-sold\" >Windows Version Lifecycle \/ Units Sold<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#additional-drivers\" >Additional Drivers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#scope\" >Scope<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#end-of-life\" >End of Life<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#policy\" >Policy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#impact-%e2%80%93-%e2%80%9cthe-bad%e2%80%9d\" >Impact &#8211; &#8220;The Bad&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#the-reality-%e2%80%93-%e2%80%9cthe-good%e2%80%9d\" >The Reality &#8211; &#8220;The Good&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#microsofts-xp-eol-message\" >Microsoft&#8217;s XP EOL Message<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#analysis-of-the-microsoft-%e2%80%9csupport-has-ended%e2%80%9d-page\" >Analysis of the Microsoft &#8220;Support Has Ended&#8221; Page<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#a-superior-approach\" >A Superior Approach<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#positive-messages\" >Positive Messages:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#recommendations\" >Recommendations<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/windows-xp-is-undead\/#summary\" >Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"why-is-there-still-a-large-xp-installed-base\"><\/span>Why is there still a large XP installed base?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Windows XP was released in 2001, over 13 years ago.\u00a0 There have been 3 subsequent Microsoft desktop operating systems.\u00a0 Why does XP remain so popular?<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"a-brief-history-of-windows\"><\/span>A Brief History of Windows<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The first part of understanding why XP is so popular is to understand what came before and after XP.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Early PCs ran DOS (Disk Operating System), a 16-bit command line environment.<\/li>\n<li>Early versions of Windows ran as a 16-bit program on top of 16-bit DOS.\u00a0 Windows 3.0 \/ 3.1 helped increase usability, and therefore helped popularize and commoditize the home computer market.\u00a0 Running Windows meant that the average person could launch programs and copy files without being a computer expert, and without learning a bunch of obscure DOS commands.\u00a0 Most computers sold via retail were sold with Windows, helping grow the market dramatically.<\/li>\n<li>Toward the end of DOS&#8217;s lifecycle, Microsoft acquired the Windows NT design team from Digital Equipment Corp (DEC)<\/li>\n<li>Windows NT was a full 32-bit, clean-build redesign of Windows, based on DOS 5 and Windows 3.1, having a lightweight Posix interface.\u00a0 Windows NT required specific, high-end hardware, and was geared toward &#8220;power users&#8221; for CAD, engineering, photo \/ video editing, and similar high-end applications where 16-bit DOS and Windows simply couldn&#8217;t fully leverage newer, high-end hardware.<\/li>\n<li>Windows NT 3.51 introduced &#8220;Server&#8221; and &#8220;Workstation&#8221; versions.\u00a0 Server was capable of using more memory and CPU resources, and could also act as a &#8220;Domain Controller&#8221;, providing centralized authentication for a group of Windows NT and Windows For Workgroups (Windows 3.11) systems.<\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, DOS and conventional Windows were replaced with Windows 95, which condensed 16-bit DOS and Windows in to one package, provided a 32-bit operating environment, and provided a greatly simplified interface and management tools.<\/li>\n<li>Although Windows 95 was more usable, it was buggy and controversial.<\/li>\n<li>Eventually, with the release of version 4.0, Windows NT adopted the Windows 95 interface, and with the greatly-increased ease of use and simplified management, became one of the most popular server operating systems on the planet in the late 90&#8217;s.<\/li>\n<li>At that time, the desktop was dominated by Windows 98, the successor to 95, because 98 required fewer resources and provided greater flexibility for portable computing as well as gaming.\u00a0 Most consumer software was developed for Windows 98 at that point.\u00a0 For all of its benefits, Windows 98 was both fragile and slow.<\/li>\n<li>The successor to NT 4.0, Windows 2000, was the first successful attempt to put &#8220;NT&#8221; on the mainstream corporate and consumer desktop.\u00a0 Windows 2000 provided much better hardware integration, usability, and increased performance over Windows 98.<\/li>\n<li>The 16-bit era ended with Windows &#8220;Millenium Edition&#8221; (ME), the successor to Windows 98. ME further isolated itself from DOS, but had higher system requirements.\u00a0 Compared to Windows 2000, there was really no point in maintaining the Windows 95 \/ 98 \/ ME lineage, and ME was killed off just 6 months after its release.<\/li>\n<li>Windows 2000 was greatly criticized because of compatibility problems, generally related to running &#8220;mainstream&#8221; Windows 98 applications.\u00a0 Poorly-written software had compatibility problems because it used &#8220;direct&#8221; or proprietary interfaces rather than the Microsoft-provided ones, usually to overcome performance issues, but had the effect of alienating consumers who tried to upgrade to Windows 2000.\u00a0 Developers were not yet writing Windows 2000-compliant software, making Windows 98 a significantly-more popular choice for gaming and older applications.<\/li>\n<li>In 2001, Microsoft released XP, the successor to Windows 2000.\u00a0 Although XP had its problems, it also had &#8220;compatibility&#8221; features, allowing users to run their Windows 98 or NT 4.0 software without having to wait for the vendor to provide an update, or in some cases, without having to buy a new version.\u00a0 With its uber-friendly &#8220;candybar&#8221; interface, and Internet Explorer 6 built-in, XP became the most popular version of Windows ever sold.<\/li>\n<li>The next version of Windows, Vista, was stuck in development hell until 2005, and wasn&#8217;t released until 2007, meaning that the XP mainstream lifecycle lasted 6 years!\u00a0 More than any other Windows version.<\/li>\n<li>The XP successor, Vista, had significant compatibility and performance issues, and in a mere 2 years, Vista was re-tooled in to Windows 7.\u00a0 A very popular and stable version, Windows 7 was the mainstream version from 2009 through 2012.<\/li>\n<li>With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft again alienated its user base by taking away the Start menu, and foisting the &#8220;Metro&#8221; interface upon its user base.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"windows-version-lifecycle-units-sold\"><\/span>Windows Version Lifecycle \/ Units Sold<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If we chart the lifecycle (years) of each Windows product, the chart looks like this:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-817\" src=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle.png\" alt=\"Windows Lifecycle\" width=\"507\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle.png 507w, https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle-300x176.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle_Legend2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-821\" src=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle_Legend2.png\" alt=\"Windows Lifecycle_Legend2\" width=\"507\" height=\"38\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle_Legend2.png 507w, https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-Lifecycle_Legend2-300x22.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just as with most mainstream consumer technologies, the home computer adoption curve went through various phases, with the number of units sold via retail growing exponentially with each phase:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hobbyist:<\/strong>\u00a0 In the late 70&#8217;s, &#8220;home computers&#8221; were built from kits.\u00a0 Hobbyists bought 100&#8217;s of units.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enthusiast:<\/strong>\u00a0 In the 80&#8217;s, home computer adoption increased, primarily driven by gaming or other special purposes.\u00a0 Very few homes had even one computer.\u00a0 Enthusiasts bought 10,000&#8217;s of units.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Adoption:<\/strong>\u00a0 By the 90&#8217;s, 1 in 3 homes had a PC, driven primarily by usability enhancements provided by Windows 3.1 and later, Windows 95.\u00a0 User adoption resulted in the sale of 1,000,000&#8217;s of units.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mainstream household<\/strong>:\u00a0 By the early 2000&#8217;s, most homes had at least one PC, and some had more than one.\u00a0 Household adoption resulted in the sale of 10&#8217;s of millions of units.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mainstream individual<\/strong>:\u00a0 By the late 2000&#8217;s, lower price points and increased demand for &#8220;online&#8221; lifestyles increases market penetration.\u00a0 Most homes now have more than 1 PC, and some have 1 PC per individual.\u00a0 Individual adoption resulted in the sale of 100&#8217;s of millions of units.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>XP&#8217;s long lifecycle, good hardware support, ease of use, software compatibility, and good support for mobile computing, combined with dropping hardware price points and increased demand for an &#8220;online&#8221; lifestyle, resulted in 100&#8217;s of millions of units sold.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, Vista (XP&#8217;s successor) had a very short lifecycle, meaning that enthusiasts who were early Vista adopters quickly moved on to Windows 7, or late adopters were still on XP, because it continued to meet their needs.<\/p>\n<p>Windows 7 had incredible market penetration, but half the lifecycle.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"additional-drivers\"><\/span>Additional Drivers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Here are some additional factors for Windows XP&#8217;s large installed base:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>No clear driver.<\/strong>\u00a0 With all of XP&#8217;s predecessors, there was a clear driver to &#8220;move up&#8221; to XP.\u00a0 Usability, compatibility, features, mobile computing, and performance were factors that its predecessors lacked.\u00a0 XP&#8217;s successors failed to deliver any compelling reason to upgrade, short of hardware replacement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vista.<\/strong>\u00a0 Sucked.\u00a0 Anyone on the fence about upgrading had a plethora of bugs and negative feedback to chose from, as a direct reason to stay with XP.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Old Hardware.<\/strong>\u00a0 XP runs on old hardware, but upgrading to a newer version of Windows means significantly-increased hardware requirements, with very little benefit.\u00a0 From a hardware standpoint, the biggest driver to upgrade is the increased use and overhead of rich media.\u00a0 With Adobe de-throned as the de-facto rich media platform, the need for more hardware in support of rich media has actually plateaued.\u00a0 If you have a later-generation XP system, the chances are pretty good that you can play videos, play online games, visit friendbook, and listen to music via a combination of AJAX, HTML5, Java, and Adobe.\u00a0 Via Windows 7&#8217;s &#8220;compatibility mode&#8221;, I use a XP desktop VM for most of my day-to-day personal online needs.\u00a0 To put things in perspective, I&#8217;m writing this on the aforementioned XP desktop VM, running with 1 vCPU, and 768 meg (YES, MEG) of RAM.\u00a0 Windows 7 or 8 won&#8217;t even boot in under 2 gig with a dual-core CPU, and good luck actually using it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exponential Growth.<\/strong>\u00a0 XP was mainstream at the key time, where demand for an &#8220;online&#8221; lifestyle significantly increased.\u00a0 Many households went from one PC to multiple PCs in a very short span of time, all during the XP era.\u00a0 More XP units shipped means more installed XP units still in service.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Compliance Penalty.<\/strong>\u00a0 Install XP, use XP.\u00a0 Install a newer Windows, and you face a maze of feature sets, license options, validation prompts, online validation, and if you change the hardware, you might even be forced to re-license Windows.\u00a0 In an attempt to prevent piracy, Microsoft has alienated its Vista \/ 7 \/8 user base.\u00a0 XP came in two flavors:\u00a0 Pro and Home, with very little difference between the two, and no subsequent requirements.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Training Penalty.<\/strong>\u00a0 Assuming a basic competency, either Grandma or Suzy Secretary could sit down in front of any version of Windows, from 95 up to and including XP, and &#8220;just use&#8221; it &#8212; no training required.\u00a0 Going from XP to Vista incurs a certain training penalty, because the user interface and functionality is significantly changed.\u00a0 Likewise for Windows 7, and again, there is a second, significant quantum training gap between Windows 7 and 8.\u00a0 People whose Grandma are using Windows Vista or worse, Windows 8, are not thrilled about those weekend phone calls about &#8220;how do I do such and such&#8221;.\u00a0 Corporations are not thrilled about having to re-train their technicians nor their user base.\u00a0 People like me, who support both, are thrilled about neither!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"scope\"><\/span>Scope<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>By some estimates, 23% of all desktops, as of this writing, as of the passing of the XP EOL date, run Windows XP!<\/p>\n<p>My view of the world is that slamming the door on XP users means risking 23% market share.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"end-of-life\"><\/span>End of Life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>What does &#8220;End of Life&#8221; (EOL) mean?\u00a0 Let&#8217;s dig in to this a little bit&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"policy\"><\/span>Policy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>At 5 years after release, Microsoft shifts each operating system from &#8220;Mainstream&#8221; to &#8220;Extended Support&#8221;, and typically, Extended Support ends 10 years after release.\u00a0 Due to its popularity, Microsoft&#8217;s &#8220;End of Life&#8221; or &#8220;End of General Support&#8221; for XP was extended to 2014, having shifted to Extended Support in 2006.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"impact-%e2%80%93-%e2%80%9cthe-bad%e2%80%9d\"><\/span>Impact &#8211; &#8220;The Bad&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>No &#8220;free&#8221; support from Microsoft.\u00a0 Any support for XP would be pay for play.<\/li>\n<li>No security updates are being written and released.\u00a0 Rumor has it that due to the large installed base, for example, within ATMs, SAN arrays, and other embedded environments, Microsoft will continue to WRITE security updates for XP, but will only RELEASE them to &#8220;post-extended support&#8221; paid customers.<BR><BR><strong>EDIT: 5\/27\/2014<\/strong><BR><em>ZDNet published a hack that allows XP to continue to receive patches based on &#8220;POSReady&#8221;, an embedded version of XP.<\/em><BR><a title=\"Allow XP to continue to receive updates\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp-7000029851\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp-7000029851\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>No net-new mainstream compatibility.\u00a0 You want to run that new &#8220;Runs on Windows&#8221; certified Microsoft game or app?\u00a0 Chances are, that it won&#8217;t run on XP.\u00a0 Additionally, commercial 3rd-party development will start to dramatically exclude XP support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"the-reality-%e2%80%93-%e2%80%9cthe-good%e2%80%9d\"><\/span>The Reality &#8211; &#8220;The Good&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lack of negative attention.<\/strong>\u00a0 As XP declines, attackers will no longer target the platform.\u00a0 This means that the net-new number of XP-related vulnerabilities per month will start to significantly drop.<\/li>\n<li><strong>3rd-party opportunities.<\/strong>\u00a0 The large installed base, coupled with lack of Microsoft support creates a perfect opportunity for 3rd-party security vendors such as McAfee, Trend, and Symantec to step in.\u00a0 With minimal or perhaps no cost, you will be able to purchase 3rd-party protection as good or better than that provided by Microsoft.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huge software library.<\/strong>\u00a0 Because of its long lifespan and huge installed base, hundreds of thousands of games and applications were written to run on XP, most of which are still available inexpensively, or as open source.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Increased Stability.<\/strong>\u00a0 This one is counter-intuitive, but here goes the explanation:\u00a0 Without Microsoft mucking about with the XP code every month (patch Tuesdays), the behavior and stability of XP will ultimately benefit.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No cloud dependence.\u00a0<\/strong> XP and all of its applications run local.\u00a0 &#8220;Time bombing&#8221; an application is illegal, meaning, if you legally purchased and installed a copy of XYZ software from 2004, you can continue to legally, locally run that software forever.\u00a0 With modern applications, including Office 365, you are paying a subscription fee &#8212; if you stop paying, you lose your rights to the application.\u00a0 I have a fully-licensed copy of MS Office 2003 that I use on my XP VM.\u00a0 My Office 2003 will continue to run forever.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Active Open Source \/ Managed Code development.<\/strong>\u00a0 There are many active projects that either explicitly support XP (because of its huge installed base), or run as managed code in either Java or Dot Net, that will run on XP.\u00a0 Again, for example, (in addition to MS Office) I use LibreOffice on my XP VM, which runs in Java.\u00a0 LibreOffice doesn&#8217;t care about the host OS.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Steam.<\/strong>\u00a0 Valve&#8217;s Steam platform is 32-bit and runs on XP, as does the &#8220;Source&#8221; engine used by all of Valve&#8217;s games.\u00a0 Steam, as a digital distribution platform, has a wide variety of games, many of which either run on XP today, or new games that are 32-bit and won&#8217;t necessarily exclude XP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"microsofts-xp-eol-message\"><\/span>Microsoft&#8217;s XP EOL Message<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Fundamentally, a current XP user is a POTENTIAL FUTURE customer.\u00a0 Whether they buy Microsoft or some other brand largely depends on how they are treated &#8212; they will vote with their dollars.<\/p>\n<p>On 4\/8 (no joke) I got the following pop-up on my trusty XP VM:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-XP-End-of-Support.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-832\" src=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-XP-End-of-Support.png\" alt=\"Windows XP End of Support\" width=\"405\" height=\"165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-XP-End-of-Support.png 405w, https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-XP-End-of-Support-300x122.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So let&#8217;s assume one of three scenarios:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m an &#8220;ignorance is bliss&#8221; consumer with my circa-2008 (YEP, you could buy NEW PCs with WinXP in 2008) computer, and I get this message.\u00a0 Uh&#8230;. WHAT?\u00a0 Today is April 8, 2014&#8230;. Why didn&#8217;t I get this pop-up a month ago, or a year ago?<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m a professional who chooses to continue to run XP, and I get this message.\u00a0 My first thought is, &#8220;you are all a bunch of idiots&#8221;. (Yep, that WAS my first thought)<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m a corporate user, and I get this message.\u00a0 I will immediately call the IT department to let them know that my PC is at risk!\u00a0\u00a0 THANK YOU, Microsoft, for generating a 100 phone calls to the help desk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Clicking on the link takes you here:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a title=\"Windows XP support has ended\" href=\"http:\/\/windows.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/end-support-help?ocid=xp_eos_client\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/windows.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/end-support-help?ocid=xp_eos_client<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In case Microsoft drops this at some point, here is the PDF:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Windows-XP-support-has-ended-Microsoft-Windows.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"analysis-of-the-microsoft-%e2%80%9csupport-has-ended%e2%80%9d-page\"><\/span>Analysis of the Microsoft &#8220;Support Has Ended&#8221; Page<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>As I read the &#8220;Support Has Ended&#8221; page, as a Microsoft customer (or potential customer), here is the message I get&#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em><strong>What is XP End of Support?<\/strong><\/em>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>This is straightforward.\u00a0<\/strong> I think the client base understands that you can&#8217;t support every piece of hardware \/ software forever.<\/li>\n<li><strong>XP \/ IE8 is directly at risk.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is a scare tactic.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>How do I stay Protected?<\/strong><\/em>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Upgrade your current PC.<\/strong>\u00a0 And I quote, &#8220;<em>Very few older computers are able to run Windows\u00a08.1<\/em>&#8220;, meaning, &#8220;<em>your hardware probably sucks, and you can&#8217;t run what we call &#8216;the correct&#8217; Windows<\/em>&#8220;.\u00a0 This is a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>blatant slap in the face<\/strong><\/span> to any current Windows XP customer.\u00a0 What it really says is this:\u00a0 &#8220;<em>You know all those hard-earned dollars you spent on buying a Microsoft &#8482; Windows &#8482; computer?\u00a0 Yeah&#8230;. well&#8230;. screw you.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get a New PC.<\/strong>\u00a0 And&#8230;. there it is.\u00a0 Here is the truthspeak &#8482; version:\u00a0 &#8220;<em>Windows 8 sucks so bad that we screwed our hardware partners, and we\u00a0 are using the XP EOL event in a thinly-veiled attempt to sell hardware.<\/em>&#8221;\u00a0 You are NOT a loyal customer.\u00a0 You are not a VALUED customer.\u00a0 You should go spend money.\u00a0 RIGHT NOW.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>What do I get with Windows 8.1?<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Quote: &#8220;<em>Windows\u00a08.1 makes it easy to do all the things you&#8217;re used to doing with Windows\u00a0XP while opening up a whole new world of possibilities for you to explore and enjoy.<\/em>&#8221;\u00a0 Let&#8217;s analyze this further:\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The familiar desktop.<\/strong>\u00a0 (XP and Win 8.1)\u00a0 Um&#8230; NOPE!\u00a0 XP has a START button!\u00a0 This is a blatant fail, and whoever wrote it should go start writing presidential speeches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Works with a mouse and keyboard.<\/strong>\u00a0 (XP and Win 8.1)\u00a0 Last time I checked, this is the definition of productivity.\u00a0 Linux runs with &#8220;Mouse and Keyboard&#8221;.\u00a0 Chromebook runs with &#8220;Mouse and Keyboard&#8221;.\u00a0 99% of personal computers on the planet &#8220;works with mouse and keyboard&#8221;.\u00a0 All XP machines &#8220;works with mouse and keyboard&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Works with Word, Excel, Outlook, and other familiar programs.<\/strong>\u00a0 (XP and Win 8.1) Excellent!\u00a0 No compelling reason to upgrade, then!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Built for touch PCs and tablets.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only)\u00a0 XP Tablet Edition was released in 2002.\u00a0 People who wanted &#8220;touch&#8221; bought &#8220;touch&#8221; 12 years ago.\u00a0 In addition, show me ONE application where touch is more effective than a mouse.\u00a0 Many people implemented Media PCs running XP Media Center edition, that provided a touch-friendly interface with large UI elements and smooth scrolling.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Apps from the Windows\u00a0Store.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only)\u00a0 The &#8220;Windows store&#8221; ecosystem is young, and quite frankly, there&#8217;s nothing but crap or exploit-ware out there.\u00a0 Android and Chrome both have a much more robust and mature app ecosystem, and I can get all the Android \/ Chrome apps on Windows XP.\u00a0 Meanwhile, XP has its own app store, called &#8220;the internet&#8221;, with hundreds of thousands of games and apps available for free or low cost.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mail, People, and other built-in apps.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only)\u00a0 I don&#8217;t even know what this is.\u00a0 Are you saying I can&#8217;t e-mail people?\u00a0 I e-mail people on XP every day.\u00a0 &#8220;Mail&#8221; and &#8220;People&#8221; I assume, are specific apps, but they have no compelling use-case over Google or Yahoo.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keep your settings and apps on all your PCs and devices.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only) Both Chrome and Firefox do this already.\u00a0 No one in their right mind would run Internet Exploder.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bing smart search to find things across the web, apps, and your PC.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only) Bing runs on XP.\u00a0 <strong>(8.1 only)<\/strong>\u00a0 OH!\u00a0 You meant, &#8220;<em>running bing on my computer<\/em>&#8220;, not &#8220;<em>go to bing.com in my CHROME browser<\/em>&#8220;.\u00a0 Well&#8230;. OK.\u00a0 BUT&#8230; considering that &#8220;BING&#8221; has probably 1M lines of code, I can&#8217;t say that NOT running hacker-bait on my XP machine is an &#8220;advantage&#8221; of 8.1 over XP.\u00a0 Honestly?\u00a0 I&#8217;m not losing anything there!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Start screen with live updates.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only) I&#8217;m just tempted to put an exclamation point on this one:\u00a0 <em>Start screen with live updates!!<\/em>\u00a0 XP start screen doesn&#8217;t bleed potentially-confidential information.\u00a0 XP start screen was designed to be secure.\u00a0 XP start screen was designed to be low-power, low-use.\u00a0 WOW, 8.1, you are starting to sound desperate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Faster startup times.<\/strong>\u00a0 (8.1 only)\u00a0 Faster&#8230; &#8220;<em>I don&#8217;t think that word means what you think it means<\/em>&#8221; <em>(-Inigo Montoya, from &#8220;Princess Bride&#8221;)<\/em>\u00a0 Given &#8216;x&#8217; hardware, XP will load nearly instantly compared to Win 8.1.\u00a0 The &#8220;8.1 boots faster&#8221; argument is only valid against Windows &#8220;the dog&#8221; Vista, and Windows &#8220;slow but steady&#8221; 7.\u00a0 XP is a much smaller operating system, designed to run well on much older hardware.\u00a0 To put things in perspective, my XP virtual machine boots faster than most Windows 8 laptops.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>So let&#8217;s summarize Microsoft&#8217;s message:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You are at risk!<\/li>\n<li>You should go spend money!<\/li>\n<li>You will get a hodge-podge of ambiguous features, nothing compelling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"a-superior-approach\"><\/span>A Superior Approach<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If I had the job, here is how I would have handled Microsoft&#8217;s messaging to its XP installed base:<\/p>\n<p>As stated, you&#8217;re running XP because you believed in Microsoft at some point, and we want to keep you as a loyal customer.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"positive-messages\"><\/span>Positive Messages:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>We&#8217;ll give you a $100 credit toward a new hardware purchase.<\/strong>\u00a0 <BR><em>Message:\u00a0 We&#8217;re in this together.\u00a0 We&#8217;re willing to invest in new hardware WITH YOU.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>We will open-source Windows XP.<\/strong>\u00a0 We can&#8217;t afford to support it, but the open-source community can crowd-source the effort, and possibly build a superior product!\u00a0 We hope you consider Microsoft products and services when making future purchases.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a $20 coupon.<BR><em>Message:\u00a0 It&#8217;s too expensive to maintain, but we continue to value those who supported us.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>We&#8217;ve aligned the release of Windows 999 with XP EOL.<\/strong>\u00a0 Windows 999 is a low-cost alternative to XP that includes modern technologies while supporting older hardware.\u00a0 Click here to upgrade!\u00a0 <BR><em>Message:\u00a0 For a minimal investment, you can jump to a modern, supported platform.\u00a0 We value our customers and respect the dollars spent on a previous hardware investment.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The thesis of these approaches is that there are viable ways to reflect the value of current Microsoft XP customers, while creating a path to ensure that they are future Microsoft customers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"recommendations\"><\/span>Recommendations<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are technically-competent, install Debian with LXDE desktop.\u00a0 Install Firefox and LibreOffice.\u00a0 Never look back.<\/li>\n<li>If you are NOT technically competent, buy a Mac.\u00a0 Mac&#8217;s don&#8217;t bite.\u00a0 Your grandson will have no clue how to help you, but you probably won&#8217;t need his help.<\/li>\n<li>If you are an uber-nerd, buy a refurb PC with Windows 7 and P2V (&#8220;Physical 2 Virtual&#8221;) your XP machine as a VM running in Win 7.<\/li>\n<li>Windows 8 sucks.\u00a0 Microsoft will never say &#8220;<em>hey&#8230; sorry about that!\u00a0 Windows 8 sucks!<\/em>&#8220;.\u00a0 Instead, they will simply stop talking about it.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t buy in to Windows 8, because it sucks.\u00a0 How many announcements have you heard about Vista lately?\u00a0 Vista EOL?\u00a0 NON-EVENT.\u00a0 Vista should have been called &#8220;Vistake&#8221;, just like Windows 8 should be called &#8220;Windows mist8k&#8221; (OK &#8211; that was a stretch).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"summary\"><\/span>Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>XP\u00a0 EOL is like Y2K.<\/strong>\u00a0 All hype, no impact.\u00a0 Many people, including myself, worked VERY hard to ensure that Y2K was a non-event &#8212; I question what effort has been put toward ensuring XP EOL is a non-event.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There is a specific set of use-cases for continuing to use XP.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Microsoft&#8217;s messaging around XP EOL is arrogant and entitled.<\/strong>\u00a0 A better approach is to value current Microsoft customers (the existing installed XP user base).<\/li>\n<li><strong>XP Zombie.<\/strong>\u00a0 Having surpassed its expiration date, XP is officially &#8220;undead&#8221;!\u00a0 I hope XP lives forever!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background:\u00a0 Like the undead, Windows XP&#8217;s installed base continues to live, even after the Microsoft-published End-Of-Life (EOL) date of 4\/8\/2014. What &#8220;End of Life&#8221; means, is that Microsoft no longer provides free updates, namely security updates, for the operating system. Unlike other Microsoft operating systems, and due to many factors, Windows XP has a huge [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analyses-and-responses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":945,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}