Windows XP End of Life Approaching

[Per Hansson]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

I agree Topcat, MS would never kill off XP, even if technically they probably could.
It would just be a PR disaster, not like they have enough of those already...

[mockingbird]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

Don't get all hot and bothered by the prospect of not being able to activate XP in the future. Your expectations are grand, and while I don't discount the possibility that the internet and phone activation might stay alive, it is an absurd prospect to expect it from a company like Microsoft. And they couldn't care less about you and all the others still using XP, and if I were in their position, I wouldn't either...

As far as I'm concerned, when the product goes out of support, it's abandonware. There are still plenty of VLK keys available that pass WGA and don't require activation. There's also SLP activation which only requires a slight BIOS modification. All in all, you're getting worked up over nothing.

[Topcat]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

Considering that Ford execs just admitted they watch you everywhere you go and what you do with the new cars, I'm proud to drive my old cars. Even if Pontiac is no longer made, my Firebirds probably won't go anywhere without me.

100%. The newest car in my fleet is my wife's 2002 Kia Sportage. Very simple vehicle. My pickup is a 96 RAM 3500 with the old 12V Cummins. Very simple. I have zero desire for a new car with more spyware embedded in it than a dirty porn site.....many feel the same way about OS's as well.....the reason so many won't give up XP....

[rhomanski]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

Considering that Ford execs just admitted they watch you everywhere you go and what you do with the new cars, I'm proud to drive my old cars. Even if Pontiac is no longer made, my Firebirds probably won't go anywhere without me.

[Topcat]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

You don't have ownership of the product, you have a software license.
It's like a company car, they allow you certain usage rights but if you go outside of those rights your license to use the car can be revoked.

http://slated.org/windows_xp_eula_in_plain_english

You are correct in your terminology, but in principle, I am right.....but you know as well as I do that would be suicide for MS to pull something like that, unless perhaps they offered a free "upgrade" to 7 or 8. MS isn't the big dog on the block anymore, and if someone who paid for it all of a sudden couldnt use it anylonger, there's other choices now. Even if its still XP, MS definitely wants you to use their products regardless.....they don't want you to have anything to do with that evil linux, android, OSx, and the many many varieties of those.....hence, the activation servers aren't going anywhere.

[Heihachi_73]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

Windows 8, 6.66%. Windows 8 really is the devil.

[TELVM]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

The seat of my pants also sees another EOL extension as well.

They've been spreading FUD trying to shepherd the flock into the Tiles Wonder, but facts are stubborn things:

^ Fresh today

So ultimately some degree of sanity is coming back: "Threshold" to be Called Windows 9, Ship in April 2015

... In some ways, the most interesting thing about Threshold is how it recasts Windows 8 as the next Vista. It's an acknowledgment that what came before didn't work, and didn't resonate with customers. And though Microsoft will always be able to claim that Windows 9 wouldn't have been possible without the important foundational work they had done first with Windows 8—just as was the case with Windows 7 and Windows Vista—there's no way to sugarcoat this. Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good ...

[Uniballer]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

FWIW, I absolutely hate just how often M$ release new OSes now. 7 barely had the chance to season before releasing that disaster known as Windows 8.

Did you notice that Microsoft actually did something smart after their Vista debacle? They ran a heavily advertised extended public beta test on Win7 to get public testing and comments before they released it. Smartest thing they ever did, and probably a big part of why Win7 was so well accepted by the public and industry. It worked pretty well for a change, and didn't have too much annoying horseshit. Apparently they didn't learn their lesson because they sure didn't do that with 8 .

[Per Hansson]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

They really can't. It denies the end user use of a product they paid for. If someone wants to use an antiquated operating system that isn't supported anymore, that's their choice....but MS denying them use of something they paid for would turn into a legal debacle. Lets say for example you bought a nice shiney new trans am back in 1995, while GM no longer has to make parts for it anymore, they can't take the keys away from you and say you can no longer drive it.....

You don't have ownership of the product, you have a software license.
It's like a company car, they allow you certain usage rights but if you go outside of those rights your license to use the car can be revoked.

http://slated.org/windows_xp_eula_in_plain_english

[Elysarian]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

They really can't. It denies the end user use of a product they paid for. If someone wants to use an antiquated operating system that isn't supported anymore, that's their choice....but MS denying them use of something they paid for would turn into a legal debacle. Lets say for example you bought a nice shiney new trans am back in 1995, while GM no longer has to make parts for it anymore, they can't take the keys away from you and say you can no longer drive it.....

Except that software is a little different from cars...

You don't buy software in most cases, you buy a licence to use it, the car analogy can still be used here: the government grants you a licence to drive a car and may take that away from you for a reason of their choosing (therefore revoking your "rights" to use your car legally).

While I do agree that for MS to prevent installation of XP would be a dick move, they are theoretically allowed to do so (best case would be to release a patch that disables product activation imho)

[Topcat]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

For a unknown reason I find it silly to keep the XP activation servers running.

They really can't. It denies the end user use of a product they paid for. If someone wants to use an antiquated operating system that isn't supported anymore, that's their choice....but MS denying them use of something they paid for would turn into a legal debacle. Lets say for example you bought a nice shiney new trans am back in 1995, while GM no longer has to make parts for it anymore, they can't take the keys away from you and say you can no longer drive it.....

[japlytic]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

I've read about the many ATMs still running XP (most of which probably run XP Embedded) - and XP Embedded support ends 2016.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

For a unknown reason I find it silly to keep the XP activation servers running.

Great idea lets make them game servers.

By the amount of money spend by all Windows customers together, those servers belong to us, and all the network cables too.

[Dan81]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

For a unknown reason I find it silly to keep the XP activation servers running.

[Topcat]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

^
The seat of my pants also sees another EOL extension as well.

[TELVM]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

Microsoft Extends Windows XP Anti-Malware Updates 1 Year


Microsoft: You will still need to activate Windows XP after April 8th with a fresh install

^ Which implies that XP activation servers will keep running.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

My tinfoil hat says MS does this stuff on purpose....

Hey I need of of those too, there is not yet available one daily horoscope about windows updates and bad Carma.

[momaka]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

This doesn't fix the bug.

I know... Yeah, sorry, I think I should have added the sarcasm brackets after all (as I was thinking first). To be honest, though, this does "fix" the problem in a way: no updates, no problems .

In defense to MS updates, I wouldn't say they are all bad. In particular, if you have XP just with SP2, you'll probably get the downadup worm infection very quickly. The thing will port-scan and exploit your computer without you even opening a browser. Just need to leave the computer connected to the internet and that's all that's needed. I think it was either TELVM or SIDMX that pointed the MS article to me, but update KB958644 fixes this problem (that is, unless you install SP3, which includes this update already... so if you have SP3 - chill!).

Thank you Kind sir!

No problem . I'm more that willing to help people when it comes to turning off automatic updates .

[Topcat]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

This doesn't fix the bug. Today I had to run Microsoft Update on a customer's XP machine. The bar kept moving for a while but never showed the updates. Looked it up and it turned out that I needed the December 2013 cumulative security update for IE8 in the interim until this bug is fixed... After that it worked just fine.

I had an XP Netbook come in that was out of date....the little green bar literally circle jerked for 2 hours before it came to a page displaying almost 400mb of updates. My tinfoil hat says MS does this stuff on purpose....

[mockingbird]

Re: Windows XP End of Life Approaching

And here's how you fix this SVCHOST bug:...

This doesn't fix the bug. Today I had to run Microsoft Update on a customer's XP machine. The bar kept moving for a while but never showed the updates. Looked it up and it turned out that I needed the December 2013 cumulative security update for IE8 in the interim until this bug is fixed... After that it worked just fine.