India Broadband Forum

cool_techie_tvm

Windows XP is really old. Its been about 7 years since it was first released. The situation is going to worsen after about 10 weeks from now because Microsoft is seriously considering to limit the XP support. Only the so-called *extended* support will be available after April 14th 2009. Security updates will still be available from them but non-security hotfixes will be given away to companies which get into support contract with Microsoft. So far three service packs has been offered for the OS.

newprouser

what do you mean by " non-security hotfixes" ?

cool_techie_tvm

Something of the order of DirectShow Security Fix for DirectX 9.0

panchabhut

XP with SP3 is more stable than Vista with SP1. this action of Microsoft is another not so subtle attempt to get people to move to Vista.

saurav_k

i think this action is aimed for the promotion of windows 7 more than vista ...

pjaveed

exactly Saurav. an interesting thing about Microsoft is that they are one company that has the power to phase out their products on their own whim and not that of their customers'.

true, quite a few companies do this, but Microsoft's actions affect a lot more people.

yeah, i would hate to move off XP for several reasons. If Vista can be made more stable and ensure compatibility with older as well as newer apps, then MAYBE I'll upgrade.

just4kix

That is not a fair statement. It takes a huge team/manpower/budget to support an OS with a use base as large as Windows/XP. When a new product is launched, there is always some pain of change. The product company needs to focus all its attention on the bugs/issues of the new product.

Employees also need to be trained on the new product. So something like this becomes inevitable.

It is an altogether different story whether the new product is better or worse than the old product. I often complain bitterly about MS-Office 2007. But there is no option. Users can continue to be on the old product if they wish. But they will not get help from MS when in trouble.

All leading ISVs (independent software vendors) do the same thing - SAP, Oracle, Symantec, Adobe, Autodesk, Novell, Intuit, etc. All these are our clients and therefore we understand the business model.

__________________

panchabhut

world over, people are moving from propritory software to open source products. Already many people have shifted to Firefox as browser and Openoffice as the office suite. But they are still continuing with the Windows OS just for the convenience of compatibility. But with such tactics, Microsoft is forcing people to make the final painful choice of moving towards a open OS as well.

nilact

Windows XP SP3 provides you with all the SP2 updates and bug fixes that's why it is stable and yes it's Microsoft tactics, that they are pushing everyone to use their next version of OS. But if anyone really love Open Source OS then he should not use Windows for anything when he has browser like Firefox and OpenOffice that can not provide the facility available with OFFICE 2007.

I think people just simply love Windows.

cool_techie_tvm

Oh ho. Something tells me another OS war is going to breakout in this thread

nilact

Don't worry there won't be going to start any OS War.

pjaveed

Kix, I understand that - I work at a software co. myself! I guess I was aiming to actually say what u did - "It is an altogether different story whether the new product is better or worse than the old product. "

In this case, as far as stability and operation go, Vista is worse than XP, at least for now.

panchabhut

Most finance professionals shifted to OpenOffice almost 3-4 years back because of few basic useful functionalities that MS Office did not have.
1. Direct export to PDF
2. Availability of full worksheet functions in all tables created within a text document and ability to linkmultiple tables within the same document.
3. File size.
4. ability to save in any standard format including competing MS office.

Office 2007 is just trying hard to play catch up.

However, this is not a place to discuss the difference between openoffice and MS office.

The reason people don't want to change to opensource OS is because of the compatibility issues with clients and other persons with whom they regularly inter-act, as Windows remains the most prevalent OS till date.

nilact

Microsoft provides you with PDFCreator add-in that will do the work.
I never had any problem with file size.
MS Don't need to provide compatible format, but others need to provide compatible format because MS Rules..

As you said i don't like to discuss here what are the functions and facilities available with the MS Office.

You know this fact then what's the benefit of discussing it? one more thing It's not that much user friendly, layman can not use it for day to day work.

3/\/J0!

pumbaa_g

I feel that the reason people like to use windows is because the learning curve for Windows software is very small. Compare the same to open source software which usually have very steep learning curve and you have the answer.

Think about it, if you buy a laptop for your Grandparents would you prefer Win XP or Vista or some open source OS like Opensuse?

At the same time I hate the kind of monopoly MS has over the OS market wherein they have the power to dictate terms to customers.

Overwhelmingly people have come out in support of Win XP but MS is still phasing it out in favor of a flawed OS which has insane hardware requirements.

Think about it the basic principle of business is to give the customer what they want

panchabhut

Everyone has their own choice. and I respect yours. and for u and for most of the users, MS must be the best possible solution.
But without the facility to use full worksheet functions/formulas in tables within word documents that would auto update on change of any primary variables, MS Word does not serve my purpose.

But yes, most of us would have to make the final decision on the OS sooner or later. If and once we deside to continue with Windows, we would have to accept the dictats of the Microsoft Corp. and upgrade to whatever is offered as the only available option.

many of the latest netbooks on the Atom processor that are being advocated as the internet device for our parests/grandparents actually have a open source OS. so there has been a shift in the perception.

nilact

I respect you, your choice and your perception.

We can not change the fact.

3/\/J0!

imrock

in these 7 years xp is the most easiest window...............
many people work in xp as it is much realible...........

vista is not compatible with some computers........
and vista is slower than xp....................

cool_techie_tvm

People prefer to work with Windows XP because they are familiar with the OS. Vista is compatible with all computers having 512MB or more RAM. Yes it is pretty much heavy on system resources.

Lookout for Windows 7, the next offering from Microsoft.

puchu

I have already migrated to LINUX, I use my Windows only for gaming. So it doesn't matter to me whether Xp or VISTA till the games run smooth and when Mr.Bill fails, I would completely migrate to opensource as there are many games for LINUX too.