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posted by
janrinok
on Sunday April 06 2014, @08:46PM
from the but-not-the-year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
from the but-not-the-year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
A recent poll by The Inquirer asked, "Which operating system will you use after Windows XP support ends on 8 April?"
Among respondents, 33 percent said they will move to Windows 7, 17 percent will stick with XP, 13 percent will switch to Linux, 11 percent will get Windows 8, and 5 percent said OS X.
So most will switch to Windows 7, but many would rather stay with Win XP without support than switch to Linux.
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Poll: More Will Switch to Linux Than to Win8
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A long-forgotten loved one will appear soon.
Buy the negatives at any price.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Sunday April 06 2014, @10:32PM
I think it is disingenuous because not many consumers are running Windows XP. For a consumer you receive your license and operating system when you purchase your device. You purchase a new laptop and you didn't so much as migrate to Windows 7/8.1, but just purchased a new computer. How many would actually go out of their way, or pay extra, to have Windows XP installed instead?
People will go out of their way to get Windows 7 installed versus 8.1, but not out of their way to get XP installed. That is entirely because of how terrible Metro and 8.1 is on a new system.
The real interesting numbers, which I believe are the bulk, are the decisions by the businesses. We all know a company or two that has dozens or hundreds of XP machines still in operation. Businesses can make bulk purchases of hardware and migrate the XP licensing repeatedly. I don't know a single business that has ever given Microsoft anything but the finger over that limitation of how many times an OEM license can be transferred from equipment to equipment either. In fact, I know plenty businesses with "pirated" installs to get rid of the GA and associated crap and they just put COAs in a folder kept someplace safe. I use a razor blade to cut them off the machines myself if I have to do so. Screw MS, they got paid money, and many IT techs I know feel the same.
Now that XP will truly no longer be supported, and it's getting a little ridiculous at this point using XP, those businesses are making a decision. I would have been sincerely surprised if businesses would have opted to use the 8.1/Metro disaster instead of the relatively well performing Windows 7 Professional. Not every desktop is a freakin' tablet Microsoft!
I would be willing to bet that *many* will be migrating to Linux. That's the natural consequence of embracing SAAS. The desktop is turning back into a thin client, and you don't need a full Win7 to be running a thin client just for remote desktop/SAAS operations. There are quite a few competitors in that space. Every flavor of Linux, Android, Google with Chrome OS, and Microsoft have operating systems vying for use on embedded systems and thin clients. Wasn't there a story recently about how Microsoft will be making their OS free for some systems? Probably a good bet that a Microsoft subscription to their SAAS services in the future will come with free licensing for the thin clients with a thin client targeted version of Win7/8.1
That won't hold true for every use case at the moment, but those use cases are increasing every day, not decreasing.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by iamjacksusername on Monday April 07 2014, @12:24AM
I have moved a lot of companies to 7 but I see a lot of businesses stripping away core infrastructure and going to SAAS. While some are
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 07 2014, @12:34AM
you receive your license and operating system when you purchase your device
That hasn't been true for me since 1992 (DOS 5.0).
Since my first box, I've picked up used gear and flogged it till it drops dead.
Gratis and libre software has been a godsend for me.
People will go out of their way to get Windows 7 installed
Not interested. My apps don't require a EULAware OS.
There are hundreds of millions like me.
versus 8.1
Not even at gunpoint.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday April 07 2014, @02:52PM
The biggest problem with XP's EOL is banks. Something like 95% of ATMs run on XP. A third of computers on the internet are running XP. Ending support only six years after the last computer rolled off the assembly line with XP is incredibly irresponsible of Microsoft.
And they lived happily ever after.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday April 07 2014, @10:43PM
While I agree with you on the EOL, I also submit that putting XP on an ATM machine was fantastically more irresponsible on the part of the banks.
Microsoft has always been Swiss cheese security. We all know this. That's why firewalls and ALG's are so critical. How on Earth can you justify all that cruft and bloat that only served to provide additional attack surfaces that absolutely should have been vetted before pushing an image into production?
A hardened security version of Linux would have been far more appropriate, and "fanboying" aside an impartial person would have realized that Linux was not being taken apart to find exploits nearly as much as XP. The objective choice should have been Linux with security experts paid to damn near cripple it from doing anything other than designed.
I would almost go as far as to say ATM machines should have had custom circuits and programming, but that may not have been economically viable. Putting together an industry group to spread the costs of development for a hardened Linux ATM version would have been viable.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday April 08 2014, @04:33PM
I also submit that putting XP on an ATM machine was fantastically more irresponsible on the part of the banks.
I don't think it was the banks, I think it was Diebold, who built them and chose the OS. Of course, after all the security problems Diebold voting machines have had, using Diebold seems irresponsible, at least now.
And they lived happily ever after.