Live Stoner Chat No updates--Windows XP--April 8, 2014

[GCase]

Just read about XP not being updated.

Some may have an older system running XP.

Appears XP will be a malware target for the next few months.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-support-help

 

[wakkytbakky]

I am wondering what will happen seeing as how almost every ATM in the USA uses windows XP

wakkyT

 

[newbud]

I was wondering... isn't this an opportunity for the system integrators out there - to offer Linux as an alternative? What an ATM machine does? Establish a secure channel to the main office, send authorization for each transaction, execute the transaction by controlling the money counting machine... it's mostly that. It needs to be stable, reliable, secure. The distribution could be off course customized, so that only the stuff that is needed is compiled.
I don't know... to me it looks like a great opportunity, Plus, besides the support there are no licensing fees, so each bank could potentially save millions... What do you think?

 

[Mindzeye]

Oh I'm glad I got rid of Microsoft out of my home, nothing but OSX mountain lion right now. My headaches are gone and so is the spyware, malware, virus's etc etc...

 

[wwwillie]

This is a big deal folks. I am almost finished upgrading 200+ workstations from XP. You may want to check a few places you frequent, like your doctors office, bank, etc. Do you want them to have your personal information on unsecure system! Be a good do-bee and help your family and friends upgrade (PM if you want some tips on this, wink, wink) Like C Grow said XP is going to be a major focus for hackers in the coming months. Windows XP still has almost a 30% share of the market as of this week. Microsloth is doing a terrible job coordinating the move away from XP. Ya it's a big mess!!

 

[pop22]

As a computer professional myself, I don't concur that the end of " support" from Microsoft should mean you HAVE to run out and buy another one of there products. When I had my business, we took an XP based machine, did the service pack one upgrade then never allowed it to update after that. It was used on a daily basis as a machine providing free internet access to customers who came in to browse/purchase from us. It ran that way for 5 years. Never a virus or malware. Why? Proper care and protection. Anti malware/antivirus software, kept updated, and good firewall software, not that poor excuse Microsoft provided. 90% of malware related pc problems are the results of poor maintenance, lack of knowledge of how your pc protection software works, and general laziness when it comes to taking precautions. Will upgrading do anything for that? No, it won't change a thing. And most people, if the are still using Windows XP, are also using old hardware. Why waste money upgrading software on hardware that's nearing the end of its useable life ( based on the cost to repair vs replace ). Care is needed also when upgrading in a corporate environment too. Pre-planning is required as you may have legacy software that won't run on Win 7 & or heaven forbid, Win 8. I can see the need in this environment, but for home users its just a Microsoft money grab. Ohh, and what about peripheral hardware that will no longer work because there are no Win 7 , etc drivers for them? Think that's not intentional too? I've got and older laptop ( Thinkpad ) that came with XP. Can't run Win 7, a couple of key drivers don't exist anywhere for them. So people should not be in a rush to run out and get Microsoft's " latest and greatest" It might cost you a lot more than you planned on!

 

[pop22]

I was wondering... isn't this an opportunity for the system integrators out there - to offer Linux as an alternative? What an ATM machine does? Establish a secure channel to the main office, send authorization for each transaction, execute the transaction by controlling the money counting machine... it's mostly that. It needs to be stable, reliable, secure. The distribution could be off course customized, so that only the stuff that is needed is compiled.
I don't know... to me it looks like a great opportunity, Plus, besides the support there are no licensing fees, so each bank could potentially save millions... What do you think?

Your Idea is a good one, BUT, people are so resistant to change! I've used everything from commandline only versions of UNIX, to Windows, Mac os, OSX, Linux in several forms, and every version of windows since 3.0 Right now, if i HAD to upgrade, it would definitely be Goodbye Windows. I've been doing some repairs on Win 8 machines and can't believe just how awful the interface is! Yes OSX is nice, but to me, the downside is the horrible prices for OSX software. My laptop just got upgraded to Linux Mint and I couldn't be happier. And since my daughter has had a chance to work on it, she wants a laptop with Mint also! But choice is what makes pcs fun, and frustrating lol!

 

[nomis]

In my line of work I see a lot of corporate desktops with various levels of security enabled. Some of the more hardcore places simply won't upgrade from XP/2003 for security reasons, but now are forced to do so. In some situations customers have moved their users onto 2003 VM clients, which is a pretty good solution for now I think, but 2003 support will be ending too. A lot of my clients also use proprietary software programs or web based solutions hosted internally on linux backends. If this trend continues then there won't be much need for a windows desktop. For end users, I think it's really about Outlook and Office. I see sooo many companies where work simply relies interaction with Outlook, it's become more of a company wide search database than an email client. It's an annoying product, but I haven't seen anything better yet.

 

[Mindzeye]

Your Idea is a good one, BUT, people are so resistant to change! I've used everything from commandline only versions of UNIX, to Windows, Mac os, OSX, Linux in several forms, and every version of windows since 3.0 Right now, if i HAD to upgrade, it would definitely be Goodbye Windows. I've been doing some repairs on Win 8 machines and can't believe just how awful the interface is! Yes OSX is nice, but to me, the downside is the horrible prices for OSX software. My laptop just got upgraded to Linux Mint and I couldn't be happier. And since my daughter has had a chance to work on it, she wants a laptop with Mint also! But choice is what makes pcs fun, and frustrating lol!

Osx software is actually very cheap! $25 for the latest version of OSX. Its the machines that are way overpriced. My Macbook Pro was $2400!!! Yikes!!

 

[pop22]

Osx software is actually very cheap! $25 for the latest version of OSX. Its the machines that are way overpriced. My Macbook Pro was $2400!!! Yikes!!

ahh sorry what I meant was the software programs to run on it.