Happy 10th Birthday, Windows XP! And Goodbye (NewsFactor)

Suppose on your birthday, your parents were firm in saying that, within a few years, they didn't want anything to do with you. Now you know how Windows XP feels.

On Tuesday, the venerable workhorse of operating systems turned a ripe 10 years old. Introduced in 2001, it was an advancement over its older brother, Windows 2000. Key among its improvements were a streamlined, task-based interface that allowed users to find their apps and files more quickly through the taskbar or Start Menu.

Other enhancements included improved power management, a faster boot, and a reputation for being stable.

'End-of-Lifing'

But Microsoft is eager to move users to Windows 7, and the company has once again confirmed that they will end all remaining support for XP by April 2014.

"We are end-of-lifing XP and Office 2003 and everything prior" at that time, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told a financial analysts meeting last month, a position the company reaffirmed this week.

He added that, for the businesses that haven't upgraded, "XP has been a wonderful product," but now it's "time for it to go." The 2014 date, actually, is an extension on the death sentence, since Microsoft normally ends OS support ten years after launch.

The last PCs with XP pre-installed were sold in October of last year, and the end of software sales of the OS was in 2008.

In a post on the official Windows Experience Blog, Kristina Libby asked readers to "think about hair -- are you still rocking the same cut" as 10 years ago? Since most readers would reply in the negative -- assuming they can remember their haircut from 10 years ago -- Libby asked, "Why then are you still on Windows XP when Windows 7 is so much better?"

The blog post includes an illustrated infographic, titled, "Standing still is falling behind." It lists a variety of popular items from 10 years ago, and compares them with ones today -- most notably, XP vs. Windows 7.

Waiting for 8?

But the move toward 7 has been slower than the company would have liked, with only an estimated 25 percent of all enterprises that use Windows using Windows 7. Microsoft has said that 90 percent of businesses plan to make the transition. According to a variety of surveys, XP is still being used by more than half of all business users.

The relative slowness in making the transition has been attributed to the disastrous Windows Vista, which many users hated, and the wait for the coming Windows 8, which Microsoft has started previewing and promoting.

There's also a large contingent that endorses that dictum, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," and are remaining with XP -- at least until Microsoft gives a good reason to upgrade. Finally, there are some businesses who are migrating, or considering migrating, to non-Windows platforms, such as Apple or Google's Android or Chrome. The center of gravity in computing has moved to mobile devices, an environment where Windows barely has a presence, while Apple and Google are currently the kings of mobile.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111025/tc_nf/80744

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