Windows XP: The seven year itch is over

I read an article in the Techno Times supplement of the Cape Times recently, and apparently Windows XP is now being edged out slowly, and Vista's coming in. Microsoft allegedly gives each operating system about a ten year span. The first five years is for free guaranteed mainstream support, and that apparently comes to a close in April 2009. After this, it enters the extended support period which will last until 2014. If you add it up, it’s actually thirteen years since its release in 2001 to 2014, so XP has had quite a long run so far, and will continue for the next five years it seems, and software and hardware companies will have to continue supporting it for the duration.

If this is the case with every Operating System, then there’s little one can do. When Vista first came out, there were some very mixed reactions, with many judging that it did not differ so greatly from XP to merit it as a new OS. Even on performance benchmark tests, XP SP3 is on a level with and even outperforms Vista. Many have stuck with XP, and according to statistics, out of more than one billion computers worldwide, approximately 700 million of them have XP, with the remaining 300 million using Vista or another OS.

How desperate is Microsoft anyway? It’s a multi-billion dollar company; it’s not like they need the money.

It started off with Microsoft only letting Direct X 10 be compatible with Vista, boycotting XP users, and making them upgrade to Vista- and a new OS isn’t cheap. Then they come with this nonsense about now not having free support for us anymore.

I stuck with XP after I read and heard many arguments that Vista isn’t worth it, even one by John Carmack of id Software. In fact, I like playing classic games so much, and I’ve just got them working with XP, and I have everything the way I want it. I don’t need to switch right now, and most likely I won’t switch for the next five years until nothing supports it anymore, and I’m forced into it.

Windows XP: The seven year itch is over