RIP: Windows XP end of support

xp

Here comes the end to XP- or at least the end of support and updates which more or less means that companies have to upgrade. After 12 years, 12 years!!- of support it has come to an end. I’m excited, but the question is, will the companies upgrade to Windows 7 or 8?

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End of support- what does this mean?

· No more technical support

· No more updates- including security patches

I guess my dad has to finally upgrade- guess who will be in charge for that? IT-support-Iris.

Comments

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TeaDrivenDev

2/26/2014 4:30:32 PM

Although it's understandable after all that time and three(!) follow-up releases, there's still a few places where XP is the ideal Windows system. We have a number of VMs running on XP that we use to connect to customers' networks via VPN, because from today's perspective, XP is kind of a 'thin client' system. Those things run on 256MB(!!) of RAM, and that's absolutely fine and enough if you don't need to do more than opening a bunch of RDP sessions. To do the same thing on Windows 7 with the same level of performance, we'll probably need to give them a Gig of RAM at least.

That said, as a desktop system XP has certainly been showing its age for a few years (although I actually used it on my home machine until late 2012), but Windows 7 is a more than worthy successor in that department.

Steve Barnett

2/27/2014 12:35:38 AM

I'd love to ditch my two XP systems, but they're used to develop legacy vb6 code so have som pretty old tools installed. MS do not give me a stable upgrade path and flippantly tell me to re-install on a Windows 7/8 install. So I have to build a new development environment, find and install software packages that are, in some cases 20 years old and hope I can get it all right for when I deliver the next version. 

Chances of that happening are very slim. 

If I had something I could install over the top of my existing XP system, then I would go for it. But a complete rebuild just isn't practical. Oh yes, and it can't be a Vista upgrade path. When I installed that the updated system wouldn't even boot.

give me an upgrade path and I'll jump at it. Tell me to reinstall and I'll stick with a couple of virtual XP machines.

Iris Classon

3/2/2014 10:01:07 PM

Reply to: TeaDrivenDev

I completly agree, and that is a very good point! Does the end of support put an end to that? Many companies have extended support (for XP), but I don't know how long the extended support is for.

Claudio Bernasconi

3/11/2014 3:38:55 AM

Reply to: Steve Barnett

I would first check what options you have to upgrade / refactor, reengineer you existing code base. In my opinion the time will come anyway where you solution will not work anymore. Have already considered to upgrade to a newer VB Version at least?

Last modified on 2014-02-26