Windows XP Extensions Reflect Vista's Woes

[gaurav_indian]

Windows XP Extensions Reflect Vista's Woes

Microsoft needs to keep its older operating system on the market in order to appease business customers.

Microsoft in the past week announced yet another life extension for its supposedly retired Windows XP operating system, a sign that, despite almost two years on the market, Windows Vista is a no-go for most businesses.

Only 10% of 700 business executives recently surveyed by the Information Technology Industry Council and Sunbelt Software said their companies are using Windows Vista in the enterprise. The numbers are consistent with other industry data and anecdotal observations.


A survey released in October by the United Kingdom's Corporate IT Forum showed that only 4% of businesses in that country are using Windows Vista on workplace systems, while 35% said they were "not yet interested" in Vista. Fifty-eight percent said they were still using Windows XP, now 7 years old.

Meanwhile, IT officials for the state of Maine say their organization plans to skip Vista for state workers and will jump directly from XP to Windows 7, which Microsoft has said it plans to release in 2010.

Why such resistance to Vista? IT managers have complained about the operating system's resource requirements -- it takes considerably more PC horsepower and memory to run than XP -- and its lack of compatibility with older software. In particular, new security features built into Vista's kernel tend to break applications built for previous versions of Windows.

As a result, Microsoft is under considerable pressure from business customers to maintain XP's availability.

On Friday, the company said it's extending the deadline for Windows XP sales to custom PC builders.

Under the plan, system builders will be allowed to take delivery of XP licenses and media through May 30. Previously, Microsoft had announced a Jan. 31 XP cutoff date for system builders, which are typically smaller, build-to-order vendors. The news was first reported by InformationWeek.com sister site ChannelWeb.

It's the latest in a string of reprieves for XP. Microsoft also originally planned to stop distributing Windows XP media to large OEMs, like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, on Jan. 31. But the company announced in October that it would move that deadline to July 31.

If Microsoft is on schedule with Windows 7, that would leave a gap of about just six months between the end of the XP program in most markets and Windows 7's general availability in early 2010. It's a sign of Microsoft's concession that Vista has flopped in the key corporate marketplace.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/...leID=212501862

[sibot]

Most companies in India are shifting to Vista for that matter of fact. Companies are purchasing better hardware that can support Vista. For how long will people drag on XP? Vista is far more capable, reliable and efficient OS.

The companies that refuse to move to Vista, are probably the small businesses that don't have enough financial resources to do so. Yes Vista demands better hardware, but the demand is overhyped by the media and tremendously over exaggerated. There is a reason to why there is more than one version of Vista, it is to streamline the OS with the requirements of one's PC.

And with the demand, the OS doesn't fail to deliver its best. I feel like I'm working on an outdated OS when I work on XP, the OS has been dragged way longer than its durable life.

[JojoTheDragon]

I thinkd microsoft stop supports for XP coz vista is better anyway.

[x3060]

its a huge money when talking about upgrade in corporate , and people dont prefer upgrade straight away.

well my friend is using vista since a month on athlon 64 2800 ,1g ram, its slow.

whatever it is, since MS has accepted the failure ,i strongly believe windows 7 will be a very good product .

[JojoTheDragon]

i strongly believe windows 7 will be a very good product .

so do I

[Kl@w-24]

Originally Posted by jojothedragon

I thinkd microsoft stop supports for XP coz vista is better anyway.

Yeah, riiiiiight.

[Faun]

^^lol it's already hopping onto 7...hahaha

[IronManForever]

I'm sorry for Vista. And I'm sorry for those who expected a lot out of it.

=> I'm shifting to OSX shortly.

[sibot]

Vista delivered more than what I expected. People who undermine Vista, have probably:-

1. Never worked on it.
2. Heard about its heavy requirements from their fellow mates, and want to act like the cool guy techie guy who has his "own opinions".
3. Have worked on it, but don't know how to get their way around it.
4. Are Unwilling to accept change.
5. Have worked on it with systems that are not capable of running it.

Having said that, I used to be a HUGE XP fan boy before, I just did not like Vista at all, I had my reasons back then. But when I finally tried out Vista, it took me a month or so to get used to the new UI and soon enough I started to see what power the OS held beneath its skin. Vista is so capable, its a drunk power horse gone wild, if one knows how to get their way around it.

Yes it requires extra resources, but delivers the same too. Its been 8 years since XP released, if you expect an OS that was released today to run on a system you purchased 8 years back, thats absolute foolishness.

Regarding the upgrades in the corporate sector, I believe more than 70% of the corporate world has shifted to Vista. And the ones who haven't, would be forced to do so eventually, due to software compatibility issues. One reason some of our national banks are still running on 486's is because they just want anything that gets their work done. XP has the same fate.

[axxo]

XP can do whatever vista can and hence it doesn't force them to do the upgrade.

[chooza]

Originally Posted by sibot

Vista delivered more than what I expected. People who undermine Vista, have probably:-

1. Never worked on it.
2. Heard about its heavy requirements from their fellow mates, and want to act like the cool guy techie guy who has his "own opinions".
3. Have worked on it, but don't know how to get their way around it.
4. Are Unwilling to accept change.
5. Have worked on it with systems that are not capable of running it.

Having said that, I used to be a HUGE XP fan boy before, I just did not like Vista at all, I had my reasons back then. But when I finally tried out Vista, it took me a month or so to get used to the new UI and soon enough I started to see what power the OS held beneath its skin. Vista is so capable, its a drunk power horse gone wild, if one knows how to get their way around it.

Yes it requires extra resources, but delivers the same too. Its been 8 years since XP released, if you expect an OS that was released today to run on a system you purchased 8 years back, thats absolute foolishness.

Regarding the upgrades in the corporate sector, I believe more than 70% of the corporate world has shifted to Vista. And the ones who haven't, would be forced to do so eventually, due to software compatibility issues. One reason some of our national banks are still running on 486's is because they just want anything that gets their work done. XP has the same fate.

That's Bro. u striked a correct key. Here, in this forum, maximum are either newbie, or a kid.

Originally Posted by axxo

XP can do whatever vista can and hence it doesn't force them to do the upgrade.

Had you ever compare the Security level of XP and Vista and also the parental control feature, or movie making, orr user level controls of Vista.....

[Kl@w-24]

Originally Posted by axxo

XP can do whatever vista can and hence it doesn't force them to do the upgrade.

Exactly. There are not enough compelling reasons to upgrade to Vista for the average Joe. Most, if not all, the benefits that Vista offers can be obtained through third-party apps in XP.

Now let's stick to the topic at hand otherwise things could get ugly.

[chooza]

Originally Posted by Kl@w-24

Exactly. There are not enough compelling reasons to upgrade to Vista for the average Joe. Most, if not all, the benefits that Vista offers can be obtained through third-party apps in XP.

Now let's stick to the topic at hand otherwise things could get ugly.

If you are working on Office, pagemaker, U need only Windows 98 with 32 mb Ram.No need to upgrade to XP also.

[Kl@w-24]

Originally Posted by chooza

If you are working on Office, pagemaker, U need only Windows 98 with 32 mb Ram.No need to upgrade to XP also.

Windows 98 is dead. But this scenario does prevail in many small firms and offices. Thanks for pointing this out.

[Ron]

I dont think ppl will shift to Vista now.
Directly to Win 7!!!

Originally Posted by chooza

If you are working on Office, pagemaker, U need only Windows 98 with 32 mb Ram.No need to upgrade to XP also.

LOLz

[x3060]

flame wars, come on , lets end this.....
MS is not yours or mine, so why bother, if someone is not happy with it , let them be, if someone is happy with it; let them be too...

[chooza]

Originally Posted by Ron

I dont think ppl will shift to Vista now.
Directly to Win 7!!!



LOLz

That's True. Me too.but wil upgrade from Vista Ulti.

[Power UP]

Hopefully Windows 7 will be the true successor of xp than this current BUGGY Vista

[chooza]

Originally Posted by x3060

flame wars, come on , lets end this.....
MS is not yours or mine, so why bother, if someone is not happy with it , let them be, if someone is happy with it; let them be too...

True Bro. that what I say. Neither MS, Linux nor Apple OSX is ours, but people here are just into that war. Thats MS bashing. I think that their mindset is equal to virus writeer, ie to prove their supremcy.

[Power UP]

lolz u must realize not everything is bashing. Some of it is indeed what u call bitter truth.

[Ron]

Originally Posted by Power UP

Hopefully Windows 7 will be the true successor of xp than this current BUGGY Vista

It will be...Remeber tht
After Windows 98 there was Windows 200 and thn Xp. Similarly,
After Windows Xp there was Windows Vista and thn Win7'

[victor_rambo]

Thumbs up to Vista.

[Power UP]

Originally Posted by Ron

It will be...Remeber tht
After Windows 98 there was Windows 200 and thn Xp. Similarly,
After Windows Xp there was Windows Vista and thn Win7'

But 2k was never this annoying

[axxo]

Originally Posted by chooza

Had you ever compare the Security level of XP and Vista and also the parental control feature, or movie making, orr user level controls of Vista.....

security level - what security u see in vista that is not available in xp
parental control - corporates are not employing kids to do parental control..if they need to do so they will do at the firewall level not at the os part.
movie making - ??? not so much difference again.
user level controls - UAC is the first one that any vista user will disable from msconfig just after its installation.

[iMav]

^^ Plug in a pen drive with an autorun virus in Vista & in XP, the chances of you getting infected in Vista are negligible & that in XP are quite high. Now, corporates never use pen drives according to you, I suppose?

[chooza]

Originally Posted by axxo

security level - what security u see in vista that is not available in xp
parental control - corporates are not employing kids to do parental control..if they need to do so they will do at the firewall level not at the os part.
movie making - ??? not so much difference again.
user level controls - UAC is the first one that any vista user will disable from msconfig just after its installation.

May u can disable UAC after installing Vista not many. Another thing, boy, corporates are much more prone to porn sites and any other, that cause them wastage of time and manpower. As far as security is concern,I had mentined earlier in another thread that I am running vista from last one year without any antivirus, and not a single virus is able to reach my machine.Plz do the thing urself before saying.

Originally Posted by iMav

^^ Plug in a pen drive with an autorun virus in Vista & in XP, the chances of you getting in Vista are negligible & that in XP are quite high. Now, corporates never use pen drives according to you, I suppose?

Gd Bro. Keep these newbie inform.

[Ecko]

My SIggy Can be applied on Vista/XP combination

[axxo]

Originally Posted by chooza

May u can disable UAC after installing Vista not many. Another thing, boy, corporates are much more prone to porn sites and any other, that cause them wastage of time and manpower. As far as security is concern,I had mentined earlier in another thread that I am running vista from last one year without any antivirus, and not a single virus is able to reach my machine.Plz do the thing urself before saying.


Gd Bro. Keep these newbie inform.

I can say this in reverse too. As I told already almost all corporates would have already done this prevention at a different layer.
I have been using xp without AV for 9 months or so since my deinstallation of visa. I didn't say vista isnt susceptable to virus or not. In few cases I have seen vista hosts infected with viruses too, in most cases it depends on user conspicious level.

Its the existing software compatibility and the new h/w requirements and these are the two that prevents the upgrade not by the security to a greater extent.

^^ Plug in a pen drive with an autorun virus in Vista & in XP, the chances of you getting in Vista are negligible & that in XP are quite high. Now, corporates never use pen drives according to you, I suppose?

If you see them using so then no else yes .

[Kl@w-24]

Originally Posted by iMav

Now, corporates never use pen drives according to you, I suppose?

AFAIK, many corporates prefer to entirely disable the USB data transfer functionality in order to prevent sensitive/confidential data from leaving the office.

[sibot]

Originally Posted by axxo

I can say this in reverse too. As I told already almost all corporates would have already done this prevention at a different layer.
I have been using xp without AV for 9 months or so since my deinstallation of visa. I didn't say vista isnt susceptable to virus or not. In few cases I have seen vista hosts infected with viruses too, in most cases it depends on user conspicious level.

Its the existing software compatibility and the new h/w requirements and these are the two that prevents the upgrade not by the security to a greater extent.

As far as the Security level is concerned, Vista is quantum leaps ahead of XP. I could never use XP w/o a firewall, the built-in XP firewall was never enough. But with Vista, I have never had the need to install one, but I have recently started installing an anti-virus. As for UAC, it has been rated the best anti-malware tool, having the best score of 86% (reference: a study that took place a few months ago). Yes indeed UAC is annoying at first, but when you have defined every programs accebility, it doesn't bug/annoy you anymore, it just sails smooth until a 3rd party tries to gain control of applications, or a web service requests a windows service, etc. Which either way could be a security threat and could allow access to a 3rd party to your computer.