XP gets reprieve as Vista is too big and clanky
Atomic kitten
OVER AT IDG, Sumner Lemon says Microsoft will not kill off Windows XP on June 30th deadline as it would have liked to.
The fact that Vista won't run on the current rash of low-cost, low-spec lappies has a lot to do with it.
Microsoft likes to bin its older "operating systems" in a bid to get users to upgrade to newer versions. The fact that Vista is more like a cumbersome downgrade means it's having trouble this time around.
Low uptake from users, negative feedback from those who did upgrade and a large number of "Save our XP" petitions have all contributed to the widely-expected decision to stay the executioners hand.
That and the fact that Linux seems to be getting quite a nice foothold in the budget end of the market and Vole doesn't like to share its burrow.
Microsoft has been caught with its pants round its furry ankles in the belief that system specs would rise year on year.
Poor people have cottoned on the the fact that instead of a multi-cored, megabytemongous beastie, they only need a plastic toy with a crank handle to see what this fangled interweb is all about.
And now the not-so-poor are cottoning on too. µ
See Also
XP
needs to live until 2009
Windows
XP gets reprieve
XP
SP3 due next month
Comments
"megabytemongous"
Top word!So good I bought a Mac
Vista is really so ineffably great that after 14 years on the PC I gave up and bought a Mac. Getting a mini machine running linux wouldn't bother me either.. The PC junta(read Microsoft) need to wake up and realise "it does what it says on the tin" is possible, and getting punters to part with their cash for products that are "compatible" but not "certified" to obtain a completely cobbled piece of rubbish should be considered miss selling!Rant over
Long live inovation (and good products)
True true
Until the next Windows comes out and can prove itself (unlike Vista did), Windows XP MUST stick around if MS has a chance to the business side of its customers. Home users generally can work with Vista, but for government, education, and business worlds, its not that they are "not ready" for Vista like MS wants to think... Vista is "not ready" for these users! And at this rate, it may never be.Until Minwin?
In an effort to please the crowds the MS bunch hold back on the kill of our beloved XP.But your otherwise fine article did'nt state till how long this grace period will last. Until Minwin?
Indeed
Personally I'm running XP quite comfortably on an upgraded Compaq Armada 1750. (500mhz, 320mb) youtube works fine on this old thing as does almost anything else except flash 8, its a little too CPU heavy for my baby.Microsoft gets it wrong again...
In the 90s, Microsoft got it all wrong. They didn't realise how the internet would change the way we use pcs - that we would spend so much time connected to the web. (Hence security chaos)After a few other similar mistakes followed closely by backtracks, PR and FUD, here is the next big mistake, they now don't realise that there are millions of low spec machines out there in the hands of upgrade-alergic slim walleted proletariats, and that these machines will be around for years to come. The big pc assemblers have picked off the low-hanging and medium hanging fruit with sales and we keep hearing about connecting the 'next billion' people they want to sell cut-down boxes to. These people won't want to buy a whole new box just because a software outfit wants to flog the next DRM-OS and make the next 5 billion smackaroos selling it.
Fact is, pcs after 2001-02 finally started to work well, be affordable to most, and do all the things they should. T
Ok vista is one bloated behemoth which is all fine and dandy for people with uber-desktops. But to take one OS and palm it off in eight different versions. Vista Basic isn't really Basic, it's like buying a Porsche, that's heavier and slower than the previous model, but has the 6th gear and 1 cylinder removed. (Well actually, if you insert the right key in vista you get the features back).
So you can see the trend in the market, even though Moore's Law is surging ahead, the big companies are using this to make pcs cheaper rather than faster, and to spread produce more of them far and wide. There are millions of people out there with 6 year old pcs happily surfing the net with a full experience without a single sodding reason to upgrade.
And there's the trend with Vole - going off on their own direction, getting silly ideas.
Thus I argue, Vista is the Voles biggest mistake.
Wait for their rapid backtrack with Windows 7.
XP Reprieve
Microsoft in its crazy twisted warped minds fail to accept the fact that Vista is another Windows ME . All the patches and service packs in the world will not save this bloated pile of trash from being ignored and scrapped . I'll keep using XP thank you .DirectX
Great article.I wonder if there have been (will ever be)any advancements in the effort to port Direct X 10 to xp. Seems if someone could pull it of properly, it would all but prove the collusion of hardware manufacturers (esp video cards) with Vole to force user upgrades.
If only the "Are you REALLY SURE you want to do this" dialogue box had popped
up on the day Vista was released.