Greener Gas, 3G iPhone, Ubuntu 8.04, XP Cutoff Date

Posted on: April 27, 2008

Feature: Getting XP after the cut-off date:

Change. Some love to do it, others would like to stay where they are. Sometimes change is needed - newer, faster, more powerful to take over old and un-updatable. Still, within time change happens like it always does in life. Its really a question of whether you want to change with it, or stick with the same.

Microsoft has made a cutoff date of June 30th for the XP Operating system. A lot of people are concerned on this date, but why? It’s not like you are not able to get XP after that date - it’s just that you won’t get it from Microsoft.

In researching this article, I found another article on TG Daily* on July 3rd 2006. It went like this:

Microsoft will be cutting off extended support to users of their Windows 98 and Millenium operating systems on 11 July (2006). The cut-off will include the stopping of technical support and the issuing of security updates. Existing documentation will still be available on Microsoft’s website.

Users of the eight year old operating system - an eternity in computer terms - are urged to switch to Windows XP because 98/ME is, “outdated and can expose customers to security risks”, according to Microsoft. It’s almost surprising that Microsoft has kept supporting the old operating system for so long and its architecture is a far cry from the Windows NT-based platform of Windows XP.

According to the article, there were about 50 Million machines on Windows 98. The Operating System was around for 8 years, so it only goes to say it would be on many machines.

Dell announced that after the June 30th cutoff date they will continue to sell machines with the XP operating system. I am not sure if they want us to feel good about it, or what. Nonetheless, you can get XP in many ways - from the local store to ebay.

Your Companies’ license wont go away. If you are still on XP at work, I wouldn’t expect that to change come July 1st. Corporate world can’t always move on with a snap of the fingers.

So what does change? Well simply, if you call Microsoft and say you have XP, they will say “Sorry, but we cannot support you”. Also, Microsoft won’t put out any more updates unless absolutely critical to your computer and the data within. That’s it.

The world doesn’t end. Little clowns from Mars won’t invade. Volcanoes won’t explode. Life will go on.

Bottom line - if you are not in corporate america and buying a new desktop or laptop and don’t have a specific reason to stay on XP ( like a program not supported on Vista), then switch over. I am not saying there will be problems, however, computer manufacturers have had a year to work with Microsoft to get Vista working on newer machines. If you have an older computer trying to run Vista, you might run into problems.

I had Vista on one of my machines. The AMD desktop was made before Vista came out, so not everything worked well. If I was to buy a new PC, it would most likely have Vista on it.

However, you will still be able to get and install XP if you need to. Heck, you can still purchase and install Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows 3.1 or any other Operating System of your choosing. As long as you have a valid license key, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Just don’t expect your computer to run as smoothly as Vista would. For instance, Windows 98 doesn’t know about “Dual Core” processors. It might run slower and more problematic thatn Vista would.

Eventually, well, in 2011, Vista will be replaced by whatever is next. I have a feeling we will go through this issue again. That is, unless everybody starts installing Ubuntu. Only time will tell.

* The TG Daily Article is here: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/27374/118/