Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/windows-xp-diehar ... 44420.html

As of April 8th 2014 Microsoft is no longer going to be supporting their Windows XP operating system. It has been around for 13 years. I've had a lot of great memories with Windows XP, but I have not used it in years. It seems like a logical move for Microsoft.

Hmm. Interesting…a lot of businesses STILL use Windows XP. I wonder if this is going to finally get more businesses to upgrade their hardware and software.

Logical move for Microsoft after 13 years of use but sorry for the people who are still using it (it's not my case ..)

Wolf Bird wrote:Hmm. Interesting…a lot of businesses STILL use Windows XP. I wonder if this is going to finally get more businesses to upgrade their hardware and software.

That is more than likely what is going to happen. PCs running XP in the business environment will now be a huge security risk, and there will be no one to turn to for solutions or fixes. We have been phasing out XP for the past few years at my job because we knew this was coming. We are pretty much done now, but it was a lot of work (3000 some PCs) with 8-9 of us in the department. There are a few remaining but they cannot be upgraded due to vendor software incompatibilities. The higher ups at the company are saying that any remaining XP machines have to be firewalled off from the rest of the network, only allowing the ports they need to have opened and that's it.

The last place I worked still had a lot of machines running XP. Where I am now, it's a mix of Macs and Windows, and all of them are running much newer OS software. So this doesn't affect me personally, but I'm sort of glad. I found using an XP machine at my last job to be a real pain, as with all the updates and new software packages piled on over the years, the machine was bloated and everything was slow almost to the point of being unusable. I get businesses not wanting to upgrade computer equipment to save on costs, but there comes a point where you probably lose far more in repairs and lost productivity. There were days where I was 100% unproductive solely because of computer problems and it was really frustrating.

While this might be hard on companies that did not see this coming, I bet any costs of upgrade will quickly be won back in terms of productivity with faster machines and fewer repairs. And workers who are stuck in situations like what I had will probably be quite relieved if they can finally get a newer machine.

My two brothers are working in two computer commpanies and I'll ask them about it, to see if they are still using this Windows version.
Here I've never used it : was this Windows XP great ?

myau56 wrote:My two brothers are working in two computer commpanies and I'll ask them about it, to see if they are still using this Windows version.
Here I've never used it : was this Windows XP great ?

It was great for it's time, but it's really outdated now, and as Wolf Bird said, it's extremely slow at times. Deploying Windows 7 to our end users was a blessing for the company I work for. It runs much better and has less problems. I hate going back and working on old XP machines now.

Basically seconding VistaBlade. It worked well for its time. It's just that as you use a machine and you get new software and updates to that software, all the data accumulates and gradually slows your machine down and makes it more prone to problems. In a business setting, machines that aren't reliable can be security risks, but also affect worker productivity. Workers can't be productive when their computers are breaking down all the time or they're constantly waiting for the machine to process things.

I dual boot Windows XP and 7 on this machine. Use to tri-boot with 8.... death to the inferior OS! Oh wait, I already killed it, so never mind.

Microsft has played this up as being a big deal, but it really isn't. I know of a few local businesses that still run off of Windows 98 SE systems, and one that still operates on Windows 95. Still over 30% of the planets Internet enabled PC's are running on Windows XP. It'll be years before that number falls below 10% I suspect just because XP has such fantastic market penetration.

And as for XP's speed. I can attest it is plenty fast. I'm running it on a Core i7 based system with 16GB of DDR3 (3.GB usable due to 32-bit OS limitation) and a pair 5770's in CrossFireX. As long as you are running XP on at least a dual core system with a minimum 2GB RAM and a video card it's as fast, and in some cases faster, than Windows Vista and 7. And XP is certainly more user friendly than that hideous trainwreck of a product Windows 8.

You want a security risk, "upgrade" to Windows 8. It's just like a virus in that it will install successullfy to virtually any hardware. And just like a virus it will try to stop you from doing what you want to do with your computer. The only thing it's missing is a dull red light and a monotone voice that will call you Dave.

Tweeg wrote: Microsft has played this up as being a big deal, but it really isn't. I know of a few local businesses that still run off of Windows 98 SE systems, and one that still operates on Windows 95. Still over 30% of the planets Internet enabled PC's are running on Windows XP. It'll be years before that number falls below 10% I suspect just because XP has such fantastic market penetration.

Whether it's a big deal or not depends on the company. It will not be a big deal to smaller companies that use Windows XP for basic functions, but it's a big deal to larger companies that have a service contract with Microsoft and need timely solutions and support.

Companies can choose to run their systems on DOS if they want to. Microsoft dropping support for an OS is not going make it stop functioning, but Microsoft isn't going to sign contracts and offer support for a company that is running old OSs. It's just the way they operate. Is it a cash grab for them? Maybe, but it's the cost of doing business if you desire support from them.

You are right, XP still has a high market penetration, and it won't go away soon. I was still running XP on my desktop up until a few years ago, but after moving away from XP I would never go back.