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Windows Vista and 7 were both packed with new features primarily targeted towards consumers. While your average home user has embraced 7, businesses and power users are still as in love with XP as they ever were. Microsoft needs to unveil some new functionality in Windows 8 that will win over XP die-hards. From what I've seen from early Windows 8 leaks, it appears it will be another consumer targeted release, which will even further prolong the life of XP. Like it or not, the continued dominance of XP is holding back technology advancement, yet I completely understand the rationale for sticking with XP as it still does everything most businesses need and power users prefer the increased control XP gives them over their system vs the newer versions, as well as the light footprint. There is nothing that Windows 7 offers that can win over these people...they will not upgrade just for the sake of upgrading. XP is capable of virtually everything 7 is capable of with the help of third party applications. There have been three revolutionary versions of Windows in the history of the OS...3.1, 95, and XP. Everything since XP has been evolutionary, and new functionality has been "nice to have" but not "must have". What will Microsoft have to do to win over the ~70% of users still running XP?
"If it ain't broke, why fix it" is indeed the key reason folks have stayed with XP.
Folks will ditch XP when it's no longer economically feasible to run. New "must-have" software is one aspect that pushes folks to upgrade. The inability to repair the old computer is another.
"If it ain't broke, why fix it" is indeed the key reason folks have stayed with XP.
Folks will ditch XP when it's no longer economically feasible to run. New "must-have" software is one aspect that pushes folks to upgrade. The inability to repair the old computer is another.
Its not just older computers that are still running XP. My company just this week replaced all of its older computers with new ones with dual core processors and 2GB of RAM, but the OS on all these computers is XP. People are slowly upgrading as Microsoft drops XP support from newer programs, but what really needs to happen is Windows 8 needs to be so good that people will happily move on from XP instead of being forced to. Windows 7 won over average consumers, Windows 8 needs to win over businesses and power users.
Its time to face it, XP is a decade old..its time to move on. Thus far however, there has not been an economically feasible successor from Microsoft.
What will Microsoft have to do to
win over the ~70% of users still running XP?
It's a matter of cost. If you have 100 systems, then you have to pay 100 x ~$100-150 to upgrade all the systems. That doesn't include any software you would have to upgrade/test that doesn't work with Win7. You can't have a partial upgrade, you have to do all systems, unless you want a support hassle of having multiple platforms.
In general, business computing is about stability first, then compatibility, extra features are normally not the biggest issues.
In fact, I have a program with XP and Win7 versions, but the Win7 version has more crashes than the XP version, so XP is better to use for this purpose.
Almost like buying/building a new PC, if the current one handles everything you need and you are used to it which makes it a lot easier, then why in the hell would anyone upgrade? Just for the sake of upgrading?
I agree with Narf, if it ain't broke, why mess with it? Especially when the new versions of Windows is known to have compatibility and stability issues? It really doesn't make sense. MS always pushes their typically re-coated version of previous operating system 1 or even 2 service packs too immaturely so rushing on to the new OS before at least a service pack got released is almost retarded.
MS is coming up with a new OS almost too frequently, and some versions of Windows are not even worth the installation time spent on them!
MS took a much needed break after XP but look how fast they came up with Win7 after Vista!
I was initially impressed with Windows 7 but the more I get to play and learn its inner workings, the less I get to like it. I never used Vista but people might be right, 7 could be just another version of Vista with a new paint job! You can tell the last 2 versions were geared towards making $$ for MS, they are not really a huge or good step forward imho.
It is safe to safe one every 3 versions is a failure and one of the other 2 is typically you can do without. So upgrade after skipping one or two versions even if, again, your current one is taking care of business.
Holding back the advancement of technology you say? I say it is all business driven technology, when they come up with an OS that is worthy of my hard-earned cash, I will upgrade if in fact I am in need of it.
Otherwise, there is always Linux community, ever-growing and improving itself...
Almost like buying/building a new PC, if the current one handles everything you need and you are used to it which makes it a lot easier, then why in the hell would anyone upgrade? Just for the sake of upgrading?
I agree with Narf, if it ain't broke, why mess with it? Especially when the new versions of Windows is known to have compatibility and stability issues? It really doesn't make sense. MS always pushes their typically re-coated version of previous operating system 1 or even 2 service packs too immaturely so rushing on to the new OS before at least a service pack got released is almost retarded.
I agree that with the help of third party applications, XP is capable of doing everything anybody would need to do today. This is really sad considering the OS is now 10 years old. Imagine using MS-DOS 5 and Windows 3.0 in the year 2000. Time-frame wise, that is the equivalent of using XP today. Shows how slow PC technology has really advanced in the last decade vs in the 90s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco
MS is coming up with a new OS almost too frequently, and some versions of Windows are not even worth the installation time spent on them!
MS took a much needed break after XP but look how fast they came up with Win7 after Vista!
I was initially impressed with Windows 7 but the more I get to play and learn its inner workings, the less I get to like it. I never used Vista but people might be right, 7 could be just another version of Vista with a new paint job!
Microsoft released 7 so quickly because of the negative public image Vista had. 7 could have easily been a service pack to Vista, but the Vista brand was so tarnished that it was best if a new version was released.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco
You can tell the last 2 versions were geared towards making $$ for MS, they are not really a huge or good step forward imho.
Microsoft has to move beyond XP at some point. A 10 year tenure for an operating system is like a century in computer time. Vista/7 was a huge step forward for consumers. I refuse to install XP on my home computer due to the fact I have to take a whole Saturday to install the OS, apply the updates, and then install all the third party software I need to get what I want out of it. I can install 7 and have a fully functional PC within an hour or two.
Businesses generally have standardized images that make using XP a little more feasible as all the updates and applications needed are generally included in the image.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco
It is safe to safe one every 3 versions is a failure and one of the other 2 is typically you can do without. So upgrade after skipping one or two versions even if, again, your current one is taking care of business.
ME and Vista were the only real failures. Other releases (such as 98SE) were minor upgrades but they still penetrated the market due to older computers being replaced by new computers with the newer OS. Before Vista, the mass downgrading of NEW systems one or two versions back wasn't common. In the past three years, almost every Vista or 7 PC in a business environment has been downgraded to XP.
Question is...why? I see no reason to upgrade older systems from XP to Windows 7, but why, even in late 2010, are most new systems in business environments being downgraded to XP?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco
Holding back the advancement of technology you say? I say it is all business driven technology, when they come up with an OS that is worthy of my hard-earned cash, I will upgrade if in fact I am in need of it.
Otherwise, there is always Linux community, ever-growing and improving itself...
The real area where XP is holding technology advancement back is its locking us in the 32-bit era. That means in the foreseeable future, there will be little in the way of software produced on a mass scale that fully utilizes today's hardware. Linux and Mac OS X have both already fully transitioned into the 64-bit era, but Windows will continue to be held back due to the continued dominance of XP.
First - power users have aggressively moved to Windows 7. Those that build their own, or buy gaming systems are running Win7. Every computer sold at retail comes with Windows 7 (almost all are 64 bit).
Businesses are always laggards. The #1 reason they delay upgrades is when their critical business applications don't run on a new OS. Companies like Oracle, apps like Siebel, etc. are notoriously slow moving to a new OS.
Don't forget the poor economy. IT departments have all been hit with budget cuts or freezes. There will be little motivation to allocate precious budget funds to desktop upgrades. Win7 needs much better hardware than XP - especially on the graphics side, so companies that delay PC upgrades will automatically delay Win7 upgrades.
I see IT departments are moving to Win7 now. They are starting to replace four year old PCs - and are running Win7 on many of them.
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