Windows XPiration is at hand

i AM A HOME USER AND i HAVE TRIED ALL OF THE OTHERS AND FOR ALL OF US OLDER PEOPLE XP IS THE EASIER ONE TO WORK WITH AND ANY TIME IT NOT AVIABLE i AM DONE WITH THE COMPUTER..WORLD AND i AM SURE THERE ARE A LOT OF US OUT THERE WILL BE THAT WAY,,, THANK YOU

No, unfortunately they will. They have to support their newest product as a point. They shot themselves int the foot. In an failed attempt to keep pirates from copying their software, they have annoyed their paying customers. Drivers for VISTA is why my 64bit Ultimate edition is collecting dust. Also it has problems using software I have paid for without me buying new versions. You would think they would have thought of this instead of bell and whistles that don't do much. Instead they focused too hard on defeating piracy (something that Gates employed to invent windows) and not on customer needs. Millennium was never this bad. I ran it for years with no problems. In the past, drivers were there for all the preceding hardware and some of the new. Not with vista. It is a we will force you to buy or else sort. One good thing has come of vista, Linux is looking much more appealing. Also Macintosh is doing better (about time since this is the where Gates stole the idea for windows came from). Keep annoying your customers microsoft. You have always waited until someone else fixed your problems and then incorporated those fixes in your next fix pack. Most people just do minor things with their computers. Mac and Linux are both more stable and will do everything windows can. You will be loosing market share in the long run. Corporations user AIX, Solaris, Linux, with verry little windows. Corporations are your bread and butter. If you can't even get the consumer on board, how will you get them?

Do what I did.

Buy a mac. No I'm not a mac fanboy.

I have used Windows XP for many years, I am also familiar with Windows Vista,
much to my dismay. Vista is much more difficult to use. Please consider the Windows user and do not faze out XP..... thank you

Time to buy a Mac. You can run Windows and Mac OS X at the same time, or dual-boot. I am a senior developer at the world's largest web development firm, and I think we have maybe two developers in our office working on Vista. Everyone else is on XP or OS X. Vista is so slow, even on a newer PC. It's just a dog, and that dog needs to be put down.

NO NO NO!!! At least for the elders of the nation.
Nor do I think it fair to push bully people into vista and them have to re-pay for existing programs such as games. virus protectors, or take out outlook express........but then WE KNOW.......you folks `will do as you please regardless the anguish of your clients.

I wish Vista would go the way of ME. They both are failures why can't Microsoft admit it? Has Bill and Microsoft gone the way of George W.? Vista is a fluffy bugg waste of time and money.

Why doesn't MS listen to the users and dump Vista? If I change it will be to a MAC. Besides ecomomically it only benefits MS and nobody else. All your drivers will need to be updated, games etc. I see no advantage to the upgrade except to Windows. Kind of an arrogant way to do business. Our business machines will continue to run XP for as long as humanly possible. There is no, repeat no advantage to upgrading for most businesses and a great deal of cost. In the middle of a recession who the heck wants to incur more cost?

Nice planning MS.

Microsoft is making a big mistake by retiring XP and I, for one, am very disappointed. I have used just about all of the prior MS based OS and I think the XP family is by far the best and most forgiving. Why must you get rid of something the consumer likes and replace it with something that doesn't work? Maybe it IS time to buy a MAC or stop using the computer altogether. Shame on you Microsoft.

I refuse to switch to Vista, Microsoft leaves me no choice but to buy a Mac for my next OS. Good buy Microsoft wishing you a better OS on your next attempt.

MICROSOFT HAS GONE THE WAY OF UPS (UNITED PARCEL SERVICE)... THE HAVE COMPLETELY LOST SIGHT OF THEIR CUSTOMERS, AND THEIR CUSTOMERS WANTS AND NEEDS. I, FOR ONE, WILL LOOK VERY LONG AND HARD AT A MAC SYSTEM (S) WHEN I PURCHASE NEW EQUIPMENT FOR MY OFFICE STAFF THIS FALL.
HAIL THE ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR MR GATES!! FORGET ABOUT WHERE THOSE DOLLARS CAME FROM!!

Interesting comment Microsoft ...

We've spent more than a year consulting with our customers and industry partners to ensure that we're doing the right thing," Microsoft says at its Web site," guess I am not a customer as I had no one call and ask for my opinion!

I have used Windows exclusively since version 3; although I have considered Apple and LINUX for years, I now have an additional reason to change camps! I HATE WINDIOWS VISTA!!!! did you here that Bill?

Just bought a Dell with Vista Home Premium, took it home and "downgraded" to XP. VISTA Home Edition Premium doesn't support many of the external devices I work with such as CAC card readers. May VISTA go the way of Windows ME.
btw, isn't amazing how people can find a way to bring G. Bush into every blog. Wade, you'll get your chance in Nov. Leave the subject of the blog to VISTA vs XP.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll be sticking with Windows XP on my machine until I upgrade in 2011 or 2012 at which time, I hope, we'll be into Windows 8 and MAYBE then I'll get Windows 7, provided it works. I have an HP LJ 4 which I don't particularly want to give up because it's not compatible with an operating system (and it's over 15 years old, I know, but they were built to last forever).

We still use Windows for some applications at home and in the office, but switched to Mac a few years back. I still have a few Windows machines that I have not and will not switch to Vista, do to the expense, and the bad reviews. These machines will die or will be sold, given away with XP on them. I think that is is folly for MS to discontinue support for XP. Their dominance over the market place is decreasing as many are migrating to Mac and Linux OS.

Razz

As per the article, ' Sometimes to innovate, one has to make hard choices.' Well Microsoft, I own an IT consulting business with numerous clients. My choice is an easy one, after using Microsoft since Windows 3.0, I am switching myself and my clients to Mac. I am so angry at Microsoft I could scream... After recommending their products for so many years, I feel betrayed. I have been an MCSE since 1998, but now I am working on my ACN credentials. Balmer, I hope you are prepared for your company to switch places with Apple, because your market share is about to significantly drop...

As per the article, ' Sometimes to innovate, one has to make hard choices.' Well Microsoft, I own an IT consulting business with numerous clients. My choice is an easy one, after using Microsoft since Windows 3.0, I am switching myself and my clients to Mac. I am so angry at Microsoft I could scream... After recommending their products for so many years, I feel betrayed. I have been an MCSE since 1998, but now I am working on my ACN credentials. Balmer, I hope you are prepared for your company to switch places with Apple, because your market share is about to significantly drop...

Long live the GREATEST O/S; UNIX! We run nothing but IBM AIX and Linux. Anything else is not considered 'mission critical'. I leave the rabble of Windows to data entry workstations. Although XP actually has worked very reliably for this purpose. Vista in my opinion is a wastes otherwise very fast and reliable hardware, fancy taking nearly double the memory resources to run what XP ran well enough. Only UNIX can handle fast context switching and virtual memory it would seem. Hail to MAC and OS X (unix).

Gary

Microsoft's original business model was to make computing easier so everyone will have an easy to use computer in every household and small business...Gates has become a pompous billionaire..No longer can he relate to the people..The best place for Vista is being flushed down the toilet..I'll buy a MAC..

I wish people would stop complaining. Vista had some issues on older computers and with drivers when it was introduced over almost 2 years ago (same as XP when released). That is all done now, it is by far a superior program to XP in pretty much all respects, particularly as a DOS. Yes some things have changed maybe your favorite button is now somewhere else. Golly, I guess you will have to learn something in life after 18! All new computers (even the cheapest) can use vista with utter ease. For me there is no going back. All the whining and complaining is like the people that rushed to the stores to buy polaroid instant film when it was discontinued, simply ridiculous. Companies that use XP need not to worry just as when XP was introduced they can simply switch to the new system when their PC's start croaking, in my office we used NT till 3 years ago when we upgraded to XP (which was already on its way out!)

Our current CAD software (2006) will not run on Vista, nor is a patch being issued by the company. The required upgrade would cost $4,999. per seat.

Microsoft is just doing what any technology company must to stay relevant. You make upgrades to your products, listen to the customer, then make upgrades on those upgrades. If they were to continue supporting XP for years to come then no more revenue or customer input would be generated. Vista, although different, has many nice features. I will agree its incompatibility with programs was very frustrating at first but most of those issues have been worked out with SP1. These same irritations arose when transitioning from 2000 to XP.

As for the MAC comments: Vista is the most MAC like OS Microsoft has ever made. So if you hate Vista how can you love MAC. Apple makes a great system and a great OS but they are more expensive initially as well as after your purchase. If you want a new DVD drive it's gonna be an iDVD drive and you can bet Steve Jobs is gonna get at least a tiny piece of that. The list goes on with almost all hardware. I won't deny it's a great machine but be prepared to buy whatever Steve Jobs thinks you should.

My company ($1 billion per annum) made a decision NOT to put our proprietary software on Vista platforms. And there's really no reason we should force ourselves to spend tens of millions to "upgrade" to this inferior product, nor force our affiliates to do so. This is a colossally bad decision by Microsoft.

I think the biggest mistake Microsoft made with Vista is lack of education of the users, and their crippled administrative policies built into the os. Why would you ship a computer with the administrator account DISABLED? I took a three day class on Vista and it took that long to figure out how to make Vista emulate XP. I have 20 Vista machines deployed but I have them in "Windows Classic" theme. As for the HP Laserjet 4 issue, I also use one. There is a built-in legacy driver for LJ4's as they're an industry standard. Just look under the built in drivers of Windows.

Seriously, they are going to force me to buy a Mac. I don't want to do that, but I'm just not willing to hold my nose and run Vista. Why did they have to move absolutely everything around? Why, why, does it continually crash my Fios router? Microsoft, I'm sure that you put a lot of money and effort into Vista, but you must stop pretending that it is an adequate replacement for XP unless you come out with some major patches quickly.