Windows XP Closes Up Shop...Or Does It?
Windows XP is on it's way out. As April 8 2014 looms closer, the lights are slowly being turned off, and the shutters drawn.
I remember when I first upgraded from Windows 2000 to XP. The cartoonish, Fisher-Price-like interface made me cringe. But I didn't want to use the "Classic" view because then I'd be seen as old-fashioned. So I got used to the big, bright buttons, which, over the many, many years, have become warmly familiar. But all good things must come to an end...or must they?
If you think that 13 years is too old for an operating system, perhaps Microsoft should take a leaf out of Chevrolet's book. As they say, "Old Chevys never die, they just go faster!". Well, perhaps Microsoft and Chevy have something in common: I just noticed that my modern, touch-screen, in-car navigation system is running..wait for it...Windows CE, first released in 1996, now in it's 8th major iteration. That's 18 years, folks.
As hard as Microsoft is trying to kill it, it looks like Windows XP might stick around for a while longer. Recent articles around the web suggest that Windows XP will continue to be used by ATMs and other embedded computers. At work, I still operate an XP computer "on the side" to access legacy programs that my Windows 7 laptop can't run. At home, I can't decide whether to keep XP, switch to Linux Ubuntu, buy Windows 8, or replace the whole computer (which has been on its last legs for about two years). I suspect that indecision will mean I'll be running XP for a while longer (and may the Lord have mercy on my soul).
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I remember when I first upgraded from Windows 2000 to XP. The cartoonish, Fisher-Price-like interface made me cringe. But I didn't want to use the "Classic" view because then I'd be seen as old-fashioned. So I got used to the big, bright buttons, which, over the many, many years, have become warmly familiar. But all good things must come to an end...or must they?
If you think that 13 years is too old for an operating system, perhaps Microsoft should take a leaf out of Chevrolet's book. As they say, "Old Chevys never die, they just go faster!". Well, perhaps Microsoft and Chevy have something in common: I just noticed that my modern, touch-screen, in-car navigation system is running..wait for it...Windows CE, first released in 1996, now in it's 8th major iteration. That's 18 years, folks.
As hard as Microsoft is trying to kill it, it looks like Windows XP might stick around for a while longer. Recent articles around the web suggest that Windows XP will continue to be used by ATMs and other embedded computers. At work, I still operate an XP computer "on the side" to access legacy programs that my Windows 7 laptop can't run. At home, I can't decide whether to keep XP, switch to Linux Ubuntu, buy Windows 8, or replace the whole computer (which has been on its last legs for about two years). I suspect that indecision will mean I'll be running XP for a while longer (and may the Lord have mercy on my soul).
Yossi's Magazine: Everyone Needs One of These www.ykarp.com/magazine
Follow on Twitter: @ykarp
Follow on Google+: +Yossi Karp
Subscribe to Y. Karp? Why Not! or follow on Facebook (see the side-bar).
Add this blog to your RSS feed reader.
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