Posted on 01/04/2006 9:59:39 AM PST by ShadowAce
Microsoft set out to adopt a formal and rigid support lifecycle in 2002, back at a time when most analysts were expecting to see Windows Vista (then, "Longhorn") within a couple of years. My own point of view was that this lifecycle business had a lot to do with Microsoft's then-new volume licensing scheme, which among other things is oriented towards selling software subscriptions. If you're buying a subscription for software, you can see how lifecycle plans become important. However, delays in Windows Vista coupled with a questionable approach to "consumer" products means that 2007 will carry a few surprises unless policy changes are made at Redmond.
XP Professional and Home are divided into two general product categories for Microsoft, namely business and consumer products. XP Professional, as a business product, will receive mainstream support for two additional years after the release of Windows Vista (whenever that may be). After that, Professional will have an additional five years of extended service (minimum), though this could be lengthened considerably if the OS update after Windows Vista does not ship within three years of Vista's debut.
Mainstream and Extended support are virtually identical, with both carrying security updates, service packs, online support, and the availability of paid support. However, the transition to the Extended Support phase means that hotfixes that are not security related will be made available by a (paid) commercial contract, warranty claims can no longer be made, and Microsoft will not entertain adding any new features or design elements to the OS.
Based on the current timeline and our own expectations for the launch of Windows Vista, we estimate Windows XP Professional Mainstream Support ending in late December 2008, with Extended Support ending in December of 2013. It could stretch out longer, but we don't expect the window to be more than two to three additional years. After the Extended Support phase is finished, online support (knowledge base, FAQ, etc.) will continue for 10 years.
Windows XP Home is another story. As a consumer product, it suffers from two policy deficiencies. First, consumer products do not qualify for Extended Support, but instead move directly into the online support phase after Mainstream Support ends. Second, whereas business products are guaranteed Mainstream Support for two years beyond the release of the next subsequent version of a product (in this case, Windows Vista), consumer products do not get this built-in transitional period. The end result is that Windows XP Home will leave Mainstream Support and enter online support on January 1, 2007—in less than a year.
When that day comes, XP Home users may feel left out in the cold, because they will no longer qualify for security updates, and will not be able to purchase support from Microsoft. Finding this situation somewhat alarming, I contacted Microsoft's representation to clarify the matter. A Microsoft spokesman relayed the following to me:
"For consumer products, security updates will be available through the end of the mainstream phase. For Windows XP Home Edition, there will be no security updates after 12/31/06." Regarding paid support for problems unrelated to security patches, I was told that "Users who want to continue to receive support after the Microsoft assisted and paid support offerings have ended may visit the Retired Product Support Options Web site."
I urge Microsoft to reconsider this stance. There should be considerably more overlap in support for their consumer OS. While five years of support for XP Home may have seemed reasonable when it was expected that there would be little more than three years between major OS updates, the time it has taken to bake Windows Vista has thrown this out entirely. If Vista launches in October, it would give users a mere two months to move to the OS, or risk being unsupported.
I suspect that Microsoft will grant a stay of execution for Windows XP Home, because the alternative is to create a PR nightmare that would also leave customers fuming. Citing emerging markets in the past, Microsoft extended support for Windows 98 and ME by more than two years, and this decision was made long after Windows XP was released. Microsoft should extend support for Windows XP Home well into 2008. Otherwise users will have to hope that updates to XP Professional meet their needs, but it remains unclear if Windows Update will point XP Home users to updates to XP Professional.
bump
Clusty it, or Google it.
It is too complicated to explain on a post.
"For those who can't stand Microsoft, get a Mac. It's your only serious alternative."
If you wait just a bit, you should be able to get a new Intel Mac. The first ones will be announced next week at MacWorld. Then you'll be able to get software to run your old Windows software just fine at full speed, and you'll be able to run superior new Mac software.
2006 may well be the "year of the switch"!
For some limited applications you are right. I know of a business the has a custom built aplication that is vital to there work. It dates back to 1985 and has to run on just the favor of unix. The hardware it runs on is 15 years old.
YES! ME WANTEM!
Call me when Apple retails a boxed 'OSX for Intel Processors' that I can install on my existing non-Apple PC.
Actually, I'll call you. I can practically hit 1 Infinite Loop with a rock from where I'm sitting right now.
We had an old instrument that ran on DOS 2.0 and was still in use until the hard drive controller failed. No replacements available so a $100K instrument was turned into a boat anchor.
It happens with legacy equipment. Did you try to run it on an emulator on XP pro? I know of people who have had success with that.
My personal pet peeve is that Windoze seems to degrade with time, no matter HOW much security patches, anti-spyware etc. etc. you do or run - it just doesn't make any difference. Maybe some server running in the closet doesn't suffer from this malady but a basic Windoze machine is going to get slower and slower and slower until it finally grinds to a halt. I don't know if this is registry bloat, or swapfile fragmentation, or the heartbreak of psoriasis but it just seems to be a universal law of the universe of computing. If Windoze doesn't fix this issue they are digging their own grave eventually.
I personally wonder how many new computers have been purchased because the old one "gave out" when, in fact, the hardware as perfectly fine but it was really Windoze that "gave out"?
You people really need to switch over to MAC. I have, and i'm not ever looking back. Heck, Rush did the same thing. If you don't listen to me, at least listen to El Rushbo
Actually office XP can run in close to the same speed..
What's the big deal? Was the hardware some kind of special proprietary PC or something? You could easily build a DOS PC today. I occasionally boot my laptop in DOS to run some old software, and it works just fine. Also, DOS 2.0 should work from a current machine running a Virtual PC session. In fact I'm sure you could probably upgrade to DOS 5 or 6 and the app would still work fine.
Or even a DOS window in Windows 3.1 or 9x (still had direct hardware access used by DOS programs).
And you can call me when Mac makes it for all x86 processors and not just Intel.
On the other hand the updates might not continue to run on your existing hardware. Lots of people still run Windows 2000 even though XP Pro has been out for over 4 years. XP is quite a bit slower and offers very little benefit over 2000. Subscription updates might just overload your existing system and force a hardware upgrade anyway.
Ive had molre luck calling RedHat than I have calling Microsoft..
Linux has had goo support for about 5 years..
It's called "WinRot."
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