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Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003
- yuhong 13y agoTechnically security updates are released at 10am PST on Patch Tuesday. http://amirunningxp.com/ http://amirunningxp.com/ got this wrong (they used midnight instead).
- iLoch 13y ago> Internet Explorer 8 was released on October 25, 2001. ... That's not right.
- yuhong 13y agoYea, it was IE6 that was released when XP RTMed.
- TazeTSchnitzel 13y agoWas it? I thought XP used IE 5.5. EDIT: My bad, it didn't.
- dewiz 13y ago"Alternatively, you can choose to use a different operating system, such as one of the many Linux variants, or even purchase a new computer running OS X or Chrome OS. If you prefer mobile operating systems as a replacement to your machine, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry OS are all viable options, but you’ll naturally have to buy a new device." I really appreciated this comment and the following part about IE8 and Chrome. Well done MS.
- jurre 13y agoExcept for our government who are paying MS an exorbitant amount of money to keep support up... http://www.zdnet.com/dutch-government-pays-millions-to-extend-microsoft-xp-support-7000028116/ http://www.zdnet.com/dutch-government-pays-millions-to-exten...
- k-mcgrady 13y agoQuite shocked that they've struck a multimillion dollar deal to keep support UNTIL JANUARY! Is there a reason they couldn't just move their upgrade cycle up 9 months? Obviously they knew this was coming.
- Tarks 13y agoFor the benefit of people that haven't had the dis/pleasure of working in a really big company, the large banks / govy places often have a ton of dependencies and at (least) one place I worked at had a custom tailored build of Windows with features they need. They're also heavily regulated and if they can't show evidence that they've done all the required audit checks to ensure they're in line then the repercussions make millions look like chump change (think an investment bank being banned from trading on certain desks). Depending on their priorities and at that size this might be the most economical move.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- chris_wot 13y agoIt's worse in government. I knew a very important Australian government department that used four levels of test for a service management system.
- Bahamut 13y agoIt's not just about upgrading the OS - it's also about upgrading the software built for that OS, which in some cases requires a complete rebuild.
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- higherpurpose 13y agoTime to switch to Linux on old PCs.
- aerique 13y agoActually, that's just what I did for my mother. She got emailed by her bank that using Windows XP would not be safe anymore and worriedly asked what to do: "do I have to buy a new computer?" Since all she basically used was OpenOffice, Thunderbird and Chrome she's now running those three apps in Window Maker on Debian.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago>> "She got emailed by her bank that using Windows XP would not be safe anymore" Before switching to Linux I'd recommend checking the bank supports it. I know a couple of banks in my country that use weird security systems that won't run on Linux/Mac.
- vacri 13y agoAs long as they support an open-source browser, you can fake the user agent to make them happy.
- dagw 13y agoAssuming there aren't any plugins or applets involved in the authentication process. Sweden, for example, is moving to a system where you use a smart card and USB card reader for authentication on most/all bank and government sites.
- johnchristopher 13y agoIn Belgium, they used to bundle a java app with some certificates or keys on a floppy disk years ago. Fortunately most of them have switched to a custom calculator-like device that spits out verification numbers and doesn't require any connection to the computer or the network.
- amits89 13y agoToday On April 8 2014, the decade long support from Microsoft for Windows XP will be terminated. This means no more security updates, patches, or technical support for the popular OS, which is still running on 30% of all computers. It's very interesting to see how it affect the XP user who are using it, after the end of XP support era. Research by EHI intelligence revels that 85% of England’s healthcare system IT systems were still using Windows XP.
- teh_klev 13y agoThat's an English healthcare IT problem, not something you can blame MS for. And let's face it, IT project management and risk management has never been stellar in the NHS.
- nikanj 13y agoThis should not be news for hackers
- taspeotis 13y agoI believe there are a lot of people here interested in dropping support for IE8 and this is just one more nail in the coffin.
- jenscow 13y agoWhile I don't blame Microsoft for ending support (they have been very accomodating already), but I find it strange of them to leave so many users stranded. Especially now there's several alternatives to Windows, all requiring a similar learning curve and migration pains to that of moving to Windows 7 or 8. Personally, when people have asked me about it I usually point them to Linux Mint, using their existing computer - not because I'm a fan of Linux, but I'd feel bad advising them to spend 100's on a new computer, when their current one works perfectly (physically). Apart from someone who plays The Sims 2, I've had no complaints.
- serge2k 13y agoIt's been more than long enough already. People who haven't upgraded yet fools at this point.
- kefka 13y agoThey are either fools or computers are not their lives. I know plenty users who Linux would be an ideal fit: web browser? Check. Office suite? Check. Device drivers for hardware Vista/7/8 dont have? Check. WINE layer for common XP apps? Check. Better security and malware defense? Check. And it's free, and wouldn't require any new hardware. Getting 7 on XP hardware would be mighty uncomfortable, if possible at all.
- keithpeter 13y agoI teach adults. In my classes, I now have 3 or 4 people out of 20 who rely on tablets for all their Internet use, i.e. they don't own a laptop or PC. About half use a phone/phablet/tablet a lot but also fall back to a laptop/PC for some uses (e.g. Flash based learning materials). I'd agree with one of the more 'automatic' GNU/Linux distributions for casual use on an XP era machine. I suspect the future will be disposable tablets however. I'm now talking to students about backups...
- scholia 13y agoWindows 8.1 runs pretty well on XP hardware, and Update 1 will run even better (minimum 1GB). You might have to buy a cheap graphics card. It browses much faster than XP on the same hardware. Otherwise, if you have people who wouldn't pay for a cheap Windows upgrade (launch offers), they probably don't want to spend a huge amount of time and effort figuring out a "free" Linux with all the other complications you mention. On their own. From scratch.
- herokusaki 13y agoWindows Embedded POSReady 2009, which is essentially a stripped down Windows XP SP3, will be supported with security updates until 2019. Realistically, as an individual you can't buy it but as far as I can tell you can use the evaluation version (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11196 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=1119...) for up to 120 days for free, which may be useful for VMs and the like.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jmnicolas 13y agoWhere I work we still have business specific apps that run only on XP and our suppliers have no plan on upgrading them (unless we fund the entire project, which they will happily resell full price to over companies). This is a clear example of what the lack of competition does
- elnate 13y agoWhat makes them specific to XP instead of just Windows?
- taspeotis 13y agoProbably code that relies on implementation details and only works by coincidence. We had a bug in our application that only manifested on Windows 8 and later. The problem was that we were passing NULL instead of some other sentinel value (MSDN said to use a specific sentinel value). XP/Vista/7 took NULL anyway and the effect was the same as the sentinel value but in Windows 8 it did something different.
- rbanffy 13y agoI remember Microsoft had "strict" builds of libraries (and Windows itself, IIRC) that did parameter checks. You would boot the machine with that software and run your program (more slowly) and some functions that would work on a consumer OS would generate errors on it. Do they still do it?
- taspeotis 13y agoYes, you can download the checked build from the MSDN Subscriber Downloads. But last time I checked the .NET Framework abused some Win32 API calls [1] so if you had some WinForms application you'd end up with loads of errors in code that wasn't yours. Might be fixed, it's been a while since I looked. [1] http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/306816/system-windows-forms-control-wmpaint-always-calls-beginpaint http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/3...
- umrashrf 13y agoDear Microsoft, please open source WinXP.
- sigzero 13y agoThat is never going to happen.
- johnchristopher 13y agoI would like to read an article about whether or not an up-to-date anti-virus is going to protect users (how and why) as a lot of IT people defend that position.
- jenscow 13y agoExactly. Any AV worth it's salt should pick up something that a security update should have fixed.
- johnchristopher 13y agoBut that's the catch: I am not convinced AV vendors have the resources, the complete knowledge and the access to Windows inner workings to fill in MS role. And what about the legal rights ? Would they be allowed to patch a security kernel breach, or a lib, made up of closed proprietary code in binary format (an extreme and unlikely case but that's what I read when IT people tell users "we'll just use an anti-virus to circumvent the lack of MS updates") ?
- oneeyedpigeon 13y agoWhich versions of Internet Explorer are supported on Windows beyond XP? Is it now 'officially' impossible to support IE6 users anymore?
- flixic 13y agoYou are right. Here's wikipedia: "It is the default browser shipped with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, and was also made available for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows Home Server (a derivative of Windows Server 2003). IE6 SP1 is the last version of Internet Explorer available for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, and Windows 2000. Although Internet Explorer 6 was superseded by Internet Explorer 7 in October 2006, Microsoft still supports it in Windows XP SP3."
- m_mueller 13y agoThe IE6 compatibility issue should be mostly a thing of the past now, except for some corporate settings and china. But I feel IE8 will stay with us for a long time with a few annoying percentage points that can't always be ignored - and by now it's almost as bad as IE6 was 8 years ago. The only thing that makes the situation better than before is the much higher adoption of FF and Chrome, which at least keeps IE8 users at single digit rates for consumer websites.
- mhurron 13y agoWhy would 8 be a problem? There is nothing supported that can't run higher and the situation that made IE6 end up being so entrenched, that MS sat on IE development for so long and IE6 was the only IE for many years, didn't happen with anything after that.
- Ricapar 13y agoIE8 is a problem because many big enterprises still run it. I know of several big US corporations that, even though they run Windows 7 now, still deploy it with IE8 for compatibility with legacy applications. Once you start dealing with big corporations, it's not as simple as "oh it's time to update".
- arrc 13y agoMicrosoft ends support for Windows XP to prevent noobs from using IE6.
- smackfu 13y agoInteresting, the company I work for has made a real push to get off of XP, but not a peep about Office 2003. I guess they don't want to spend that money.
- Ellipsis753 13y agoI've heard a few people saying that they're staying with Windows XP in their company internally. The idea being that as the internal computers share a single access point to the Internet that they can filter everything incoming there. This doesn't really sound correct and obviously it won't help for physically bringing in USB sticks etc but I'm still interested to know what others think here? Is there about to be a large number of 3rd party firewalls trying to protect internet computers from Windows XP exploits?
- peeters 13y agoMalware detection in a firewall/proxy is already very common. See Blue Coat, FireEye etc.
- pgrote 13y agoWe have internal web based apps that require IE 7 and Windows XP due to Active X controls. We've moved to Windows 7 with virtual XP machines. To prevent internet access we've stopped any traffic at the firewall with the virtual machines. We think this will work to prevent internet based attacks, but realize we're still vulnerable to physical attacks through media. It was the best we can do given our reliance on the older system. Any other holes in this other than the physical issue?