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posted by janrinok on Saturday May 03 2014, @11:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-lingering-death dept.

Sebastian Anthony writes that Microsoft is setting an awful precedent by caving and issuing a fix for Windows XP. "Yes, tardy governments and IT administrators can breathe a little easier for a little bit longer," writes Anthony, "and yes, your mom and dad are yet again safe to use their old Windows XP beige box. But to what end? It's just delaying the inevitable." This won't be the only vulnerability found in XP adds Dwight Silverman. "If Microsoft makes an exception now, what about the flaw found after this one? And the next? And the one after that, ad infinitum?" Even though Microsoft has released a patch for the IE flaw, and Windows XP is included, it's time to move on really. "I don't want to hear that tired "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" line. Hey, XP IS broke, and it will just get more so over time. Upgrade to a newer version of Windows, or switch to another modern operating system, such as OS X or Linux."

 
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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 04 2014, @04:01AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 04 2014, @04:01AM (#39380)

    Last saw
    That must have been a REALLY long time ago.

    about 50% machines are still running XP
    Windoze (ALL versions) currently make up less than 45 percent of user machines. [wikimedia.org]
    Windows NT 5.1 and Windows NT 5.2 combined make up less than 8 percent of user machines.
    (That's one of the most-visited sites on the web.
    If you want to offer alternate figures, try to find a site with an equal or larger sample rate.
    If the site that you cite doesn't cook its numbers, that would be good too.)

    14 year old computer[...]128MB[...]Pentium II 200Mhz[...]Puppy and DSL both cannot be used because the are not compiled for that old of a CPU
    Complete nonsense. [goodbyemicrosoft.net]
    I have a Pentium 2 with 128MB that has run Puppy and DSL.
    DSL will run on a 486.

    The requirement that typically limits a very very old box is lack of CMOV; neither of those distros requires that.
    ...and the line of demarcation for CMOV is between P1 and Pentium Pro (or between old Pentium M and new Pentium M; Banias/Dothan).

    Your box will even run a more complete / more modern distro. [google.com]
    I've seen an account of a guy installing antiX in 48MB and running it in 30MB. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [freeforums.org]

    ...and, as has been mentioned numerous times, the story isn't about a patch for the OS; it's for the browser.
    The smart thing to do is to quit using Internet Exploder.
    Even better: Find your local Linux Users Group and have them install a distro for you.

    -- gewg_

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Sunday May 04 2014, @10:39AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Sunday May 04 2014, @10:39AM (#39426) Homepage
    > Windoze (ALL versions) currently make up less than 45 percent of user machines.

    Those stats are page requests, which is an *almost totally bogus* measurement.

    Any browser sitting behind a caching proxy will deflate statistics for its OS (such as pee-cees in a corporate environment).
    Any browser which doesn't have a big enough cache (such as a small mobile device like ipads and iphones) will inflate statistics for its OS.
    Any browser which does pre-fetching will inflate statistics for its OS.
    Any broswer in the hands of someone who's curious and who keeps clicking around will inflate statistics for its OS.

    That stat is as absurd as estimate a country's gun ownership by bullet sales.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Sunday May 04 2014, @02:15PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Sunday May 04 2014, @02:15PM (#39467) Homepage Journal

    Windoze (ALL versions) currently make up less than 45 percent of user machines.

    XP makes up a quarter of desktops and laptops on the internet. [wikipedia.org] That's a huge potential botnet that Microsoft is creating by dropping support for their buggy OS.

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org