Eulogy to Windows XP

(The following eulogy was written by Sam Marshall from Treca Educational Solutions.  Enjoy!  -K)

 

Many of you may have heard that Windows XP will soon see retirement and no longer receive updates or support from Microsoft.  So let’s take a moment to remember Windows XP:

• When Windows XP was released on October 25th, 2001, President George W. Bush had not yet completed his first year in office.
• The minimum amount of RAM to run it was 64MB;  the iPhone 5s comes standard with 1GB which is 16x more powerful
• When Windows XP was launched there was no Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest
• Businesses wanting to install windows XP could prepare 6 FLOPPY DISKS to install the operating system on systems that did not have a CD-ROM drive.
• By January 2006 over 400 Million copies had been sold.
• Microsoft Officially ended sales of Windows XP on June 30th 2008 -- over 5 and a half years ago!
• Microsoft has released 3 newer Operating Systems after Windows XP
• Even in 2014 Windows XP is being used on nearly 30% of the world’s computers.  Many of these sytems are ATMs, and Point-of-Sale devices.
• Microsoft will end support of Windows XP on April 8, 2014 (Less than 60 days away)

 

Why should you care?

 

If you, your friends, or your family run Windows XP know that after April 8th these systems should no longer be considered secure. Microsoft will no longer release security patches or updates for Windows XP.  These updates are like vaccines and Microsoft ending support means no more vaccines will be made to keep your system healthy. (note:  Microsoft is offering some level of continued patching suport for businesses, but the pricepoints are punitive.  No such support has been planned for individual consumers to my knowledge). 

 

Sadly there are no easy solutions.  The only options available are to update to a new operating system or purchase a new computer if your current one cannot run a newer version