Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Poll: Why do you think XP is so resilient?

Mar 4, 2014 7:53AM PST

To give you some perspectives to this poll, check out this CNET article: Windows XP won't die without a fight

Why do you think XP is so resilient, even as support is coming to an end?


-- Businesses are the majority of users.
-- People in general just love XP.
-- Windows 7 and 8 are not worthy of upgrading to.
-- People don't like change.
-- Pirated XP versions make up most of those users.
-- If it isn't broken, why fix it?
-- People can't afford to upgrade the OS and hardware at the same time.
-- People have apps that run only on XP.
-- Other reasons. (What do you think?)

Place your votes here

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Cost and Resistance to Change
Mar 5, 2014 11:36PM PST

In my humble opinion, the reluctance to update from Windows XP to another version falls within four categories:

1) People Don't Like Change;
2) People can't afford to upgrade the OS and hardware at the same time (or period);
3) Availability of updated and/or Compatibility and Stability with XP apps; and
4) Businesses are the majority of users.

People are extremely adverse to change, especially when they have no control over it. It's the fear of the unknown and how it will negatively affect their job as opposed to the positive the change might bring. To alleviate this fear, you must convince them why the change is necessary, how it will benefit them, and make them feel comfortable through it.

I've found users are apprehensive about the stability of the new software and whether it will be compatible with the current programs (Apps) and hardware they have. They are concerned they will have to relearn programs they have become familiar with using (not including updates to the MS programs) and the cost associated with having to update to newer versions of those programs. In a lot of consumer, and probably some business cases, the user needs to purchase a newer PC (I know people that still use PCs with 512 MB RAM and 40 GB hard drives). The money and training time required to upgrade can become expensive for a business or consumer, especially since a number of us have not recovered from the economic crash of 2008!

- Collapse -
yeah 512mb of RAM - you should have seen the laptop I had in
Mar 12, 2014 7:14PM PDT

The other week someone brought a laptop to me for repair 'cos she said it was running really slow, it had always been really slow since she bought it years ago but finally decided to do something about it.

I took one look at it and immediately diagnosed her biggest problem. Amazingly this laptop was running Windows 7 64-bit with 1Gb memory! Plus that's not the only thing 256Mb of this memory was allocated as shared Video Memory!!!

So in total this Windows 7 was running with 768Mb!!! Not much better than 512Mb. Amazing 'cos I've never seen Windows 7 run on anything less than 1Gb before - although I don't think you could really call it "running", it was more barely stumbling along (as well as that it also had a few viruses on it which really weren't helping the speed at all!)

- Collapse -
window xp
Mar 6, 2014 2:34AM PST

Lee, good points from forum members. BUT the big question is does Microsoft know about it or is it a futile discussion?

- Collapse -
BOTTOMLINE?The geeks at Microsoft don't care....
Mar 6, 2014 3:28AM PST

They are not and never have been true businessmen.... Their only world is software design and selling upgrades with no consideration for the needs and desires of small businesses.

- Collapse -
Top line. Smart small busineses can use OTM
Mar 6, 2014 3:31AM PST

OTM = Other Than Microsoft.

We have Open Office, Thunderbird and more as well as a free OS to run the apps on.

Smarter businesses know to use OTM.
Bob

- Collapse -
Why should I change Xp?
Mar 6, 2014 5:50AM PST

I used Xp since its very beginning. Since then, I had not a single problem with it. It works perfectly, so why should I change it? It is not necessary that a new version is better than an old one. Do you remember Vista? It was called a downgrade . A second reason is that I understand that I should buy an operating system to operate a computer, but i can't understand that I should buy a new computer to use a new OS, A third reason is that the will of Mr Bill Gates to increase. his multiple billions fortune is not a sufficient reason to let me borrow money to change my system, including the computer, the printer...etc. So, I shall use Xp as long as I can. No matter with automatic updates, I never used them and I never had any problem. Xp is a vry successful system.
N.B.My Xp is not pirated. I have paid for it. If it was pirated, I would have no problem to change it to another pirated system.

- Collapse -
It does all that most people need an OS to do.
Mar 12, 2014 2:16PM PDT

Heck, I'm saving my copy and created an SP3 upgrade disk to go with it and I'll make another disk with all the rest of the updates just before support ends. I'm doing that in case someone I know needs a good free OS. I personally moved to 7 last year and have both 32 and 64 bit versions of 7 Pro, 64 on my desktop, 32 on my ThinkPad, and love it! I built my desktop to be the center of a home entertainment network and 7 does that nicely. I'll likely stick with 7 till the end, or near the end, of its life. I'll have to see what 9 offers, but I'll very like go to Linux Mint next. I may even switch to Mint sooner if given a good reason. To heck with MS! They still act like the 600 lb gorilla in the room but they are shrinking.

- Collapse -
yeah your right MS need to sort themselves out..
Mar 12, 2014 6:53PM PDT

Yes your right Microsoft do need to get their act together.

They had MSX Basic many years ago, then MS-DOS, then Windows but now they've got too complacent with thinking were Microsoft and we can do what we want and people will still buy our stuff.

They're failing to see that there are other technologies on the horizon that are just there ready to make them disappear.

Linux is taking a size able chunk of Windows users because it's getting more and more easier for the end user to use - especially with releases like Mint and Puppy Linux - even though it's a lot smaller than Windows or most other Linux distributions with it's SFS files and PET files, and the Lucid edition support DEB packages it really does have some amazing power!

You've also got tablets springing up all the time - Microsoft need something on the ARM processor to compete against Android, Windows 8 doesn't even come anywhere near close. ARM has taken a long time to get where it is today, from the days of the Arcorn Archimedes, but I can see that in a few more years time the Intel 80x86 architecture will be absolutely dead (about time really as it's technology is way too badly patched up now). I've got a feeling that it won't be long now before we see ARM based desktops making an appearance, possibly based on ITX systems or Raspberry Pi's and running a more powerful desktop edition of Android - and if Microsoft don't watch out their going to also miss the boat on that one. Desktops will still continue to exist because a tablet is still only very basic, but unless Intel can pull some brand new totally re-designed CPU out of the hat they're going to struggle to keep selling the old 80x86 compatible CPU's.

One thing I always used to find funny with Windows was the immense size of it. Before I got a PC I used to have a Commodore Amiga, and I remember how surprised I was when I installed Windows '95 at the size. I think at the time I had a 1Gb hard drive and I thought - this OS and Workbench 3.0 aren't that much different, and yet Amiga Workbench fits onto a 3.5" 880k floppy disc (ok it did have some of it also built into the Kickstart chips too but they were only 512k in size) - so why on earth did a program that did virtually the same thing need to be put onto a 650mb CD-ROM for and take up nearly half of a 1Gb drive.

Windows is very lame when it comes to it's size (possibly due to lazy programmers not that bothered about all the junk they leave around and unnecessary DLL files they install - the other day I used CCleaner on my machine and found over 3Gb of junk files just lying there as well as loads of junk registry entries!). Windows is like a giant rubbish tip at times. I think now more people are seeing this especially 'cos modern Windows has gone even larger and can take up a couple of Gb on hard drives, and yet latest editions of things like Puppy Linux are only about 165Mb in size and Android is the same. Ok it's not quite as small as the less than 2Mb that Workbench used to use but it just puts it into some perspective of how much space Windows must waste and why the more you use it the more it starts to run worse and worse!

If Microsoft aren't careful they're going to go the same way as so many other top brands - Nokia, HMV, Sega, Woolworths - all these brands made the same mistake - they all sat there on top thinking they're the number one and they didn't need to look over the shoulder for the lower companies climbing their way up to knock them off the top shelf, and now Microsoft is sat there doing the same thing, and Google is really close to knocking them off their perch. I think if Google make Chrome OS easier for everyone to install and include a version of WINE with it, it'll be pretty much curtains for Microsoft.

- Collapse -
window xp support ends April 8
Mar 13, 2014 1:57AM PDT

Have just been notified of the end of support on April8. So we can discuss this until cows come home but nothing is going to change. Just prepare to suggest alternatives other than buying win7 or 8.

- Collapse -
OTM (Other Than Microsoft) idea.
Mar 13, 2014 2:08AM PDT