Computer Support Network

Last week Microsoft officially canceled support for the Windows XP operating system. This announcement goes hand in hand with the soon to launch Windows 7 and is an obvious attempt to encourage an upgrade. There is still the option for businesses to request support but now the request will come at a price.

Tuesday April 14th closed the door on mainstream support for the most popular operating system in circulation and has the potential to affect millions of PC users around the world. Microsoft has been phasing out the 8 year old OS for more than a year but this is a big step and it is important to understand what it means. While mainstream support is now gone there is still an option for businesses that experience complications. Users of Windows XP retain the option to contact Microsoft but will now have to pay for support on a per-incident basis. For personal users and businesses with a limited IT staff or budget this will constitute a large stumbling block.

Because of the negative reception that Windows Vista received most businesses have no plans to upgrade to Windows 7 on release. Vista was highly criticized for its high resource requirements and general sluggishness when compared to Windows XP. Since many critics expect the new OS to have similar complications it’s not surprising that so many businesses have reservations about the upgrade.

What makes the issue more troublesome is that with the termination of support and the hesitation to upgrade many small businesses are likely to be left out in the cold for technical assistance. If they do rely on Microsoft they will incur hefty fees that will continue until they finally decide to migrate. Making matters worse even those companies that do intend to upgrade will be left without support until Windows 7 is released later this year at an undisclosed time.

While it’s reasonable for Microsoft to encourage people to move beyond the 8 year old operating system the support cancelation notice seems to come at an odd time. With Windows 7 on the horizon no one will seriously consider and upgrade to Vista but that leaves most people without an outlet for support. What this means for the millions of users around the world who still depend on windows XP will soon be seen.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

After the relative flop of Windows Vista, Microsoft has decided to take a much more proactive approach to the launch of Windows 7. In an effort to encourage trial and upgrade Microsoft has decided to allow purchases of the new OS to downgrade to Windows XP if the new operating system doesn’t suit their needs.

Windows XP is still the default operating system for the majority of businesses and home users around the world but at nearly nine years old the OS has started to show its age. While Windows XP is still a very strong OS in forms of stability and runs on a limited resource set, there are many areas in which it has been surpassed. For all its short comings Widows Vista is the most secure Microsoft operating system to date. Vista also has advanced the virtual memory handling of its 64 bit operating system which allows faster response time and enhanced capabilities of graphics and video editing software. While this particular feature isn’t a necessity for the majority of users today eventually basic productivity software will benefit from this as well.

In a rather brilliant design decision, Microsoft has devised a plan to get these features to the masses with the release of its new operating system this fall. Businesses that wish to test Windows 7 will have the opportunity of experience all of the new features. However, if they decide that the new OS doesn’t suit their needs Widows 7 ships with a hassle free rollback feature which will allow users to downgrade to Windows XP. This versatility allows for a much greater audience to experience the new OS features without the problem of feeling trapped by the purchase. As an added benefit to consumers, the Windows XP operating system, which is now hard to come by, will once again be available IF you don’t mind going through Windows 7.

Since Widows 7 promotes a strong emphasis on usability enhancement it is nice to see that Microsoft has applied the same concept to acquiring the OS as well. If the operating systems features work as intended and enough people are allowed to test them out for themselves this could finally be the OS to replace Windows XP as the industry standard. It will be interesting to see how things pan out later this year when Windows 7 is released.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

When Windows Vista was released three years ago it was heralded as the second coming of operating systems but instead it was met almost universally with scorn. Since then, however, many people have begun to adapt and even accept Vista as a viable upgrade from windows XP. It’s not surprising that Microsoft was eager to be done with bad publicity but what IS surprising is that now instead of trying to enhance Vista they are eagerly moving on with Windows 7 for a release in 2009.

The oddness of the announcement really stems from the fact that Microsoft has been running PR damage recovery ads for the last few months. After spending the time and money to try to recover from the initial backlash of the launch it seems strange that they would abandon their product. Even more alarming is that those have adapted to Vista will soon find themselves with the problem of upgrading once again.

As I have mentioned before I have been running Windows Vista on my PC for two years now. While some performance issues do exists Vista has received more negative publicity then is really warranted. I bring this up to give perspective to what I’ve seen of Windows 7. Having spent some time with the beta version, Windows 7 feels more like a polished Windows Vista then a truly new operating system. Windows 7 is noticeably faster and has user interface improvements but overall the core components remain the same. The product seems like it should have been released as a Service Pack instead of a full-fledged release. Windows 7 seems more like a publicity stunt: release last year’s model with all the kinks worked out to negate all past negative publicity. Whether this is the case or not it will be interesting to see if Microsoft can learn from their mistakes when Windows 7 is released late next year.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department