High and Dry

[andrewducker]

Unbelievably, Microsoft have announced that support for Windows XP Home will cease at the end of 2006.

It's replacement, Windows Vista won't have been out for more than a couple of months by then (and that's if you take the optimistic view that the current schedule is accurate), which means that pretty much nobody will have it (especially considering that most people get their OS with their PC and never bother to upgrade.

Support ending will mean that there will be no more security patches available, which will mean that huge numbers of machines will suddenly become vulnerable, and be used by virus writers for all sorts of nefarious purposes (including sending spam and DDOS attacks).

I really hope that this is a fuck-up and that the Microsoft representative has mispoken on the issue. Support really needs to continue for at least two years - until the majority of users have moved onto the next version.

Comments

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

Isn't XP Pro more prevalent than Home though, by far?

[andrewducker]

Don't know, to be honest. In business, bound to be. At home? Depends on what was on the box when people bought it, generally.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

No, direct support ending means that there will be no Service Packs or add ons.

XP Home is scheduled to enter online support at that point, which continues security updates. You still get security updates for Windows 98 which has been in online support for the last two years.

Someone has got confused somewhere.

However that's an old reading of Microsoft's life cycle schedule. I suspect that a new schedule will be announced soon which will put XP Home in the same support bracket as XP Pro.

[andrewducker]

Someone has got confused somewhere.

That's what I'm seriously hoping. Quotes like:

"For Windows XP Home Edition, there will be no security updates after 12/31/06."

had really better be wrong.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

For one thing, most XP Pro updates will work on Home...

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Yes, but if they're supplied with no guidance as to whether they'll work or not, let alone an automated patching system as at present, there won't be very much uptake.

[guybles.livejournal.com]

I suppose they have to give you some reason to actually want to upgrade to Vista, complete with New! Improved! security flaws, overbearing DRM and ludicrous hardware requirements.

[andrewducker]

The DRM is not really any stronger than that already in WMP, the security flaws will be much the same ones already in XP (only with the new LUA mode making some things safer) and the hardware requirements will be fine with any modern machine at the time it's released.

Like most versions of Windows it'll sell largely with new machines and only geeks will actually get hold of it for themselves (and most of those will find a way to avoid paying for it).

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

No new DRM in Vista (beyond the HD DVD stuff), and it runs quite happily on a box I paid £360 for - including all the Aero Glass effects.

[avatar.livejournal.com]

If I remember right, they wanted to stop support for 98 a lot later than this, and they had to keep it going because there were just too many people using 98.

[birdofparadox.livejournal.com]

I see. They're tired of supporting their old half-assed project, and would now like us to pay to use their new, half-assed project.