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Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

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Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#21

Post by serge2k »

jenscow wrote: post #17

While 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…

It's been more than long enough already. People who haven't upgraded yet fools at this point.

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#23

Post by johnchristopher »

dagw wrote: post #18
vacri wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as they support an open-source browser, you can fake the user agent to make them happy.

Assuming 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.

In 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.

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#24

Post by jmnicolas »

Where 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

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#25

Post by Tarks »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #12
jurre wrote: post #6

Except 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-exten...

Quite 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.

For 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.

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#26

Post by elnate »

jmnicolas wrote: post #24

Where 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

What makes them specific to XP instead of just Windows?

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#27

Post by teh_klev »

jmnicolas wrote: post #24

Where 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

As in, your supplier lacks any competition in their line of business sector? Or is this a claim that MS are to be found wanting because you're locked into your app supplier?

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#29

Post by teh_klev »

amits89 wrote: post #10

Today 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 sys…

That'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.

Re: Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003

#30

Post by taspeotis »

elnate wrote: post #26
jmnicolas wrote: post #24

Where 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

What makes them specific to XP instead of just Windows?

Probably 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.

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