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from the we-need-to-get-them-to-buy-the-new-version dept.
Windows XP holdouts are even more danger than ever after Microsoft abandoned anti-malware support for the ancient platform.
Redmond overnight stopped providing XP support for new and existing installs of its Security Essentials package.
The run-as-needed Malicious Software Removal Tool has also been axed, while support for patching ended in April last year for those who aren't paying large wads of cash to stave off an upgrade.
"Please note that since the above real-time protection products have limited effectiveness on PCs that do not have the latest security updates, your PC will still be at risk for infection," Redmond says.
"We strongly recommend that you complete your migration to a supported operating system as soon as possible so that you can receive regular security updates to help protect your computer from malicious attacks."
Netmarketshare.com data shows XP is alive and kicking
Windows XP's market share still beats its loathed successor Windows Vista, MacOS and Linux on the desktop.
The operating has a 12 percent market share or 180 million users, according to netmarketshare.com , putting it in third spot just behind version 8.1 representing 13 percent of installs, and version 7 with a whopping 61 percent of installs.
Are you still running Windows XP? What about your company?
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 16 2015, @01:58PM
No NT servers here, but we have an NT4 SP6 machine. It hosts a simple robotic program in an ultrasonic welder. It does it's job well enough. No need for updates or anything, it's isolated from any networks.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:44PM
I seriously doubt anybody here will be able to top me when it comes to the oldest MSFT OS I have to support....ready? Its DOS 3. Lucky for me the only "support" they really need is me building a couple old boxes to replace one of their when they die and image the old IDE. So why are they still using DOS 3? Simple they have a CNC lathe that cost over $100K back in the day and the software that runs the lathe and lets it do all kinds of custom scroll-work? Will ONLY run on DOS 3. Of course the company that made the thing went out of business 20 years ago and a new one big and powerful enough to replace this thing would cost a quarter mil so naturally its cheaper to just keep a handful of old boxes running and ready and swap when the old one dies than it is to replace, but it does feel weird to have to brush off the DOS prompts after all these years.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 16 2015, @11:06PM
You've got me beat then. The oldest thing I saw in actual use, in a production facility, was Windows 3.1 in a Coka Cola plant. As with so many other ancient OS's, they had custom software on the machine, which they didn't want to pay someone to rewrite to run on newer OS's. It's been almost a decade since I've been in that plant - they may have finally upgraded. What's more likely than upgrading is, they've imaged their machine so that they can run it in a VM. Ten years ago, VM's were rather exotic. Today, pretty much every high school has a couple kids who know how to install and run VMWare or VirtualBox.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday July 17 2015, @05:09AM
Friend's company went around scarfing up XT motherboards for the same reason, well up into the Pentium era -- their cloth cutter software couldn't speak to newer hardware, and replacing it was a $100,000 job to no particular benefit.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Friday July 17 2015, @08:42AM
That is why I never bothered researching a VM, the hardware to interact with the lathe is an ancient ISA board which uses IIRC phone cables to go from the back of the box to the lathe itself. While the thing may be older than dirt I gotta give the company that made it credit, they came up with a simple GUI that basically took over from dos (Kinda like GEM) that makes it pretty damned easy to pick your designs or tweak the design for the object being carved. Its a classic case of "Do one thing but do it really well" and it just keeps right on humming along.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday July 17 2015, @01:24PM
It ain't broke, don't fix it. There's no point in great "performance" when you're waiting for a lathe anyway; easy to use, works, paid for -- which part needs 'upgrading' ?? Yeah. None of 'em.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.