Maher's Digital World

Off Topic Discussion => Chit Chat => Topic started by: topdog on June 19, 2013, 01:00 AM

Title: Why do people still use XP
Post by: topdog on June 19, 2013, 01:00 AM
Thought I'd start a new topic because I'm thinking of replying to some comments in others but don't want to fill up "help" threads with chatter.  :-X
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: scarface on July 05, 2013, 07:39 PM
To topdog:
perhaps for this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Few-Seem-to-Care-About-Windows-XP-s-Retirement-348975.shtml
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on July 07, 2013, 06:04 AM
Interesting topic, Topdog! Why are so many people still on XP despite it's age? I think XP'ers can be broken down into 2 groups as follows:

Group One consists of people who, for one of an infinity of different reasons, are simply stuck with old hardware that won't even run Windows 7/32. I've also seen people who depend on an ancient, long discontinued peripheral where not even Windows 7 support is available. This also includes those people who do nothing more than send e-mails, visit web sites (especially Facebook and such) and play Solitaire. If this is pretty much all they do, I believe any kind of upgrade is unnecessary, even if they can afford it.

Group Two consists of these people whose hardware is more than capable of running Windows 7 or 8, yet for some reason insist on XP. Unlike Group One, I've yet to see one of them give me a good reason for their insistence on such an ancient OS. I've seen this sort of thing happen since the day I brought home my first computer. I even remember one lady who told me there was no reason to run Windows, she was happy with plain old DOS! These people are inevitably forced to upgrade. To give you a simple idea of what I mean, I've already posted many times that Micro$haft said officially that support for XP will be discontinued as of 2014. This means no more updates - you're at the mercy of hackers who will find way to exploit security holes which MS won't bother to patch.

I suppose there's also a 3rd group too. These are huge companies whose many PC's have XP (or older) installed. For these guys, upgrading is a major headache. They don't have the luxury of simply getting Windows from the torrents as we do - they have to pay for it. And of course, it also means downtime - "technicians" have to install the upgrade and their staff has to be re-trained. In many cases we're talking about people who can barely click a mouse. You can't begin to imagine how many offices I've walked into that are still running XP or worse. It goes without saying these guys, sooner or later, will have to bite the bullet and forcibly upgrade.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: topdog on July 09, 2013, 05:40 AM
Yeah, I'm mostly group one (32 bit hardware)

And partly group two (don't see any good reason to install 7 on my one 64 bit PC and learn it when I intend to shift to 8 next Jan/Feb)

Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on July 14, 2013, 03:24 AM
Quote from: topdog on July 09, 2013, 05:40 AM
Yeah, I'm mostly group one (32 bit hardware)
And partly group two (don't see any good reason to install 7 on my one 64 bit PC and learn it when I intend to shift to 8 next Jan/Feb)

I totally agree that you should go directly to Win8. However, when it comes to upgrading, I say the sooner the better. No upgrade comes without growing pains. Also, you've got the benefit of tons of specialist here who can guide you. And of course, never forget that a 1000 km voyage must begin with one step.

When you finally decide to give it a go, you'll probably wonder why you waited. The problem with XP is nothing other than the fact that it's old.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: topdog on August 11, 2013, 08:48 AM
I am slow at learning new ways and even slower at unlearning old ways  :-[
I installed Win8 on a laptop when it first came out and had a bit of a fiddle.
Decided to wait till I had a touchscreen before I got too comfortable using it with a keyboard only.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on August 12, 2013, 01:07 AM
Quote from: topdog on August 11, 2013, 08:48 AM
I am slow at learning new ways and even slower at unlearning old ways  :-[
I installed Win8 on a laptop when it first came out and had a bit of a fiddle.
Decided to wait till I had a touchscreen before I got too comfortable using it with a keyboard only.

There's nothing difficult about Windows 8. I bet you in less than a day you'll be able to get by. Also, you don't need a touchscreen at all. My wife just got a touchscreen laptop with W8 on it and frankly I'll stick with the keyboard and mouse. I'd go as far as to say that using your finger isn't much different than using your mouse.

Also, never forget progress and upgrading are inevitable, and especially so in anything related to technology.

Naturally, if the reason you're not getting W8 is financial, then you belong to what I call `Group 1'.  ;) :)
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: kyrusty on August 14, 2013, 12:53 AM
But honestly, what is the point in upgrading from Win7 to Win8 on a regular machine without touchscreen? I do not see any reason..

Back to the topic: I think there are plenty of people who can not afford new hardware every 2 or 3 years in some countries on our planet which is btw. becoming somewhat over-trashed. And these people are not necessarily "dummies"; I think of many IT-professionals from India for instance.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on August 14, 2013, 07:51 PM
@kyrusty - I disagree. You DO NOT need to have touchscreen to use Windows 8. The mouse cursor does the same job as your finger. I mentioned once that my recently wife got a touchscreen laptop. I never use my finger on it. I hate having to stretch my arm all the way over when the mouse does the same thing.

Also, remember Moore's Law. The computer industry advances at an alarming pace. Only someone such as the Sultan of Brunei can afford to absolutely always have the latest gear. For the rest of us it's financially impossible. The golden rule is simply that there is no need to upgrade if your current hardware does what you want it to do. A perfect example is a lawyer I know. He still uses an old computer with an 8088 processor to run the DOS version of Wordperfect - and nothing else. Why should he upgrade - unless, of course, one of his old components dies.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on October 01, 2013, 03:26 AM
Quote from: usmangujjar on September 29, 2013, 06:28 PM
may it is wrong place,
i want to discuss other OS than Microsoft Windows, any one having some information about other OS's? please discuss..........

You can download and install one of the 20 or more distros of Linux. Linux is a great OS, but sadly the lack of support compared to Windows is simply horrendous. There are many things I do that must be with Windows because with Linux it's not possible.

To get your feet wet one thing I suggest is to download Slax and/or Parted Magic. These can be run as live CD's and will not affect your current Windows configuration. You can go a little faster by booting them up from a USB flashdrive.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: Daniil on October 02, 2013, 11:00 PM
Slax isn't the best choice, after my expirience. ;D
Linux is mostly for servers or specific applications (for example, my partners use it as OS for selfmade CNC lathes. Well, to be perfectly correct - they trying to use it. ;D We'll take a look how that will ended.)
The end of my fight with Slax and other Linux distros was very simple. I had no time to figure out how to force XAMPP to work on Slax. So I spat, format my USB stick and went and bought an old laptop. And install WinXP on it. It takes about 3 hours and then I just start to work.
So, conclusion: if you need to work with PC, use Windows. If you need work of PC, use Linux.

Quote from: usmangujjar on September 29, 2013, 06:28 PM
may it is wrong place,
i want to discuss other OS than Microsoft Windows, any one having some information about other OS's? please discuss..........
If you have free time and want to learn, try to start from Slax (as said comrade Humbert), then try a Slackware (http://www.slackware.com/). I like it very much, it is difficult but cool.
Also, I saw a Porteus Linux (http://www.porteus.org/). Who can say anything about it?
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: certvalue111 on March 17, 2018, 09:24 AM
hello...Games that support XP run a lot better on it than Windows 7 or 8. Because it puts less load on your system, thus allowing tasks to perform smoothly. Windows XP is still being used by many people and is okay to use when you're using computer for the first time. you can get windows XP from here.
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Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on March 30, 2018, 06:12 AM
Quote from: certvalue111 on March 17, 2018, 09:24 AM
hello...Games that support XP run a lot better on it than Windows 7 or 8. Because it puts less load on your system, thus allowing tasks to perform smoothly. Windows XP is still being used by many people and is okay to use when you're using computer for the first time. you can get windows XP from here.

As I've said so many times, XP isn't bad, it's OLD. Only those people who are stuck with an old computer and can't upgrade should be using it. Otherwise forget it, it was developed in the days when today's hardware didn't exist.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: Yoda on March 30, 2018, 08:54 AM
I would like to say something (from my experience).

I have some cases where the peripherals are working with software developed only for XP.
Eg. Medical equipment that their software programmers abandoned this model and start developing
win7-8-10 compatible software for the next models of equipment, so the doctors stuck in win XP PCs.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on April 03, 2018, 07:06 AM
Exactly my point. Developers are developing software for newer versions of Windows because sticking with XP is ludicrous. Those doctors that are stuck with XP and the old computers will continue using them until they no longer work or simply aren't up to the task. One thing is for sure: nobody makes old XP-compatible computers nor old medical equipment designed to work with them. Upgrade or die, you can't live in the past.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: PANZER24 on April 14, 2018, 11:33 PM
I'm using XP cuz even a donkey wouldn't fart for my pentuim.
as a XP windows user I say that most of people use XP because their computer specs can't match the requirement ones for newer versions of windows.
sorry for my bad english.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: topdog on April 16, 2018, 12:25 AM
Well, almost 5 years later and I'm still running XP on 2 machines but one of those is about to be retired.
And Humbert, you were right, no need at all for a touch screen with Win 8/8.1, never use mine.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on April 17, 2018, 07:21 AM
You guys who are stuck with old computers: have you ever considered running a distro of Linux instead of XP? Do you run programs that are Windows-only and haven't been ported to Linux? Mint is my favorite and even the 64bit version runs like a rocket on 10 year old machines, or older.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: Yoda on April 23, 2018, 11:02 AM
Yesterday a dentist called me because his XP PC died.

His expensive X-Ray machine is only working with a s/w (and drivers) developed for XP and the s/w company is not supporting it any more.

Lucky me, he had an copy of the s/w installation CD.
So after buying a new (modern) PC I re-installed XP+drivers (Again) and X-Ray machine s/w ...

His only other option was to spend a hell of money to buy a new X-Ray machine...
So ... XP keeps going...
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on April 25, 2018, 06:11 AM
Quote from: Yoda on April 23, 2018, 11:02 AM
Yesterday a dentist called me because his XP PC died.
His expensive X-Ray machine is only working with a s/w (and drivers) developed for XP and the s/w company is not supporting it any more.
His only other option was to spend a hell of money to buy a new X-Ray machine...
So ... XP keeps going...

This is a classic example of what I've been saying about XP: the only people who should continue to use are those who are stuck with old equipment because an upgrade is financially impossible. The mere fact that new X-ray equipment doesn't support XP is proof that XP does NOT keep going, in fact it's dead unless you're stuck with something old.

Let me say once again that XP was an excellent operating system in its day. Forget it: it's obsolete, it's done, it's history.
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: akaubee on May 09, 2018, 05:30 PM
Windows Xp is one of the best windows ever made.

Frankly I still use it on my PC in virtual machine
Title: Re: Why do people still use XP
Post by: humbert on May 14, 2018, 06:26 AM
Quote from: akaubee on May 09, 2018, 05:30 PM
Frankly I still use it [XP] on my PC in virtual machine

What's your host OS? Are you using Virtualbox or VMware?