Will Windows XP ever die?

edited April 2016 in Software
It has been two years since support for the OS that we all loved had its support cut, and I am surprised to see that it's still breathing after all this time, though with a 10.9% market share as of last month. I wonder... will it ever fade away into nothingness, and why are some places out there, even in China, still use it? Those that still use it on their machines are more vulnerable to security threats and that many programs have already dropped support for it (though I recall that Firefox still supports it). It might take another two or three years to finally give up and for all its users to wean away from it. Even so, 7 would go the same way. It's just strange that something like this would still go on, given that Windows 2000's lifetime ended six years ago and I bet that perished pretty quickly.
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  • Windows 2000 wasn't as widely adopted as Windows XP was. Remember that XP replaced 2000 and ME... and the world pretty much hated ME, so XP's market share replaced that of 2000, ME and 9x... And even those were still used much later than they should have been.

    Usually what happened was as computers from the 9x era died off either due to failing hardware or poor performance, they were replaced with shiny new XP boxes.

    And now the same is happening with 7... the XP boxes are starting to die off and get replaced with shiny new 7 boxes.

    But here's the problem, since the world avoided Vista like the ME-plague, XP was installed on newer generations of hardware, including the core2duos which are still fairly capable machines and it's taking a while for those to die off, but it is happening.

    Will XP ever die? Yeah, but it will just take longer because it was in service much longer than most other versions of Windows due to both how long Vista was delayed and bad public opinion of Vista.
  • BlueSun wrote:
    Will XP ever die? Yeah, but it will just take longer because it was in service much longer than most other versions of Windows due to both how long Vista was delayed and bad public opinion of Vista.
    I've always wondered why XP had a longer support cycle than all others... guess I've finally got my answer. And on the subject of XP having being installed on new hardware, that was what my old computer was. Impressive for it to handle 4GB memory and 500GB hard drive at the time, and a 2999Mhz Genuine Intel processor too (but I would think Core2 Duo was better, I don't know). You would think Vista or even 7 would handle those specs just fine.

    And right after I made this thread, I came across this by chance.
  • I like windows xp for lot of the older games that won't work with windows 7 and up. A lot of older games for windows 9x won't work with 64bit os and since windows xp is 32bit the games i got will work with it. So i boot windows 7 and windows xp on the same computer. I know a lot of companies stop make programs for windows xp. You can't get the newer version of java to work on windows xp. When i download stuff with firefox it will fail to download the first time and you have to click until it downloads it. More and more companies will stop making newer programs for windows xp. Someday someone will make a unofficial service pack for windows xp with all the updates in it like they did for windows 9x and me.
  • It was only a couple years ago that my family started moving from 9x and xp (mostly xp though), over to win7. We were on xp for so long because we had terrible hardware that wouldn't be able to handle win7. funny thing is that the switch to win7 occurred in my home when I switched the living room pc which was an Atom tower with xp on it, over to my old p4 tower which runs win 7.
  • Someday someone will make a unofficial service pack for windows xp with all the updates in it like they did for windows 9x and me.
    It's been done already my friend.
  • It's also worth bearing in mind that XP came along during the biggest expansion of computing we've seen for some time; not perhaps in terms of people *getting* computers, but certainly getting more than one in the house.

    In the late 90s most people would have maybe at most a desktop and a laptop for business or whatever, but by the end of the 2000s you'd find multiple machines per house. The sheer amount of systems kicking around plus the vast userbase that was exposed due to the long shelf life is pretty much why it's taking so long to go away.
  • BlueSun wrote:

    Will XP ever die? Yeah, but it will just take longer because it was in service much longer than most other versions of Windows due to both how long Vista was delayed and bad public opinion of Vista.

    And the main problem that arose with this was that people had gotten so used to XP that they didn't see any reason to upgrade to a newer version of Windows. After all, why should you replace something that works fine the way it is? Of course this argument is flawed because of XP's horribly outdated security (and the fact that it's no longer supported makes it even worse), but it's an argument that I've seen used by a lot of people in my direct surroundings who are still using XP.
  • Average Joe doesn't care about the security of their operating system. They only care if it works to do the things they want to do, which fortunately, XP is becoming less and less capable of doing all the time.
  • BlueSun wrote:
    Average Joe doesn't care about the security of their operating system. They only care if it works to do the things they want to do, which fortunately, XP is becoming less and less capable of doing all the time.
    *Unfortunately

    Because as long as you can download a web browser on it, people will use it. Thankfully, it appears that Firefox and Chrome have announced discontinuation for XP if I'm correct.
  • IMO, for generally user, Windows XP now obsolete OS as most application now requires at least Vista. Most casual user don't mind whatever OS as they can browsing safely or use their favorite application that now mostly unsupported XP.

    No reason to continue use XP even using POS update hack, unless you build retro-computing or have Pentium III machines to play around.
    garirry wrote:
    BlueSun wrote:
    Average Joe doesn't care about the security of their operating system. They only care if it works to do the things they want to do, which fortunately, XP is becoming less and less capable of doing all the time.
    *Unfortunately

    Because as long as you can download a web browser on it, people will use it. Thankfully, it appears that Firefox and Chrome have announced discontinuation for XP if I'm correct.

    I got vista machine and my Chrome browser noticed that Vista will be unsupported as XP too. Heck, Vista still supported today and will be unsupported on 2017.
  • garirry wrote:
    BlueSun wrote:
    Average Joe doesn't care about the security of their operating system. They only care if it works to do the things they want to do, which fortunately, XP is becoming less and less capable of doing all the time.
    *Unfortunately

    Because as long as you can download a web browser on it, people will use it. Thankfully, it appears that Firefox and Chrome have announced discontinuation for XP if I'm correct.

    Chrome has discontinued XP support. Firefox still supports it AFAIK. But that support won't last forever. The sooner they drop support for XP, the better.
  • I thought Chrome had already cut support for XP... and upon a quick lookup, it's known that Firefox may continue to support XP for a wee bit longer. And when Vista does end next year, there is a much higher chance for that to give in to its demise and then quickly become abandonware because right now, its market share is barely above 2%.
  • Just checked, and yeah, Chrome has in fact dropped support for XP, Vista, and (Mac) OS X 10.6-10.8. I've heard that Firefox has also announced dropping support for 10.6-10.8, but not sure if that will also mean the drop of XP/Vista support in the future (I bet that this will happen sooner or later, can't feed the dead body for too long you know)
  • Apologies for bumping a very old thread but, I've something to announce... the lights have finally gone out for XP, as its market share has dipped below 1%. Looks like all these refuseniks with rose-tinted glasses have finally gotten the message, where they either had to switch to 10 as crap as it is still, or become more elite with a macOS or Linux.

    And soon, 7 could be next :neutral:
  • That is a horrible article. They give no information about how they figure XP is "gone". Were there actually still some lights on at Microsoft for them to even turn out? How do they figure "marketshare"? Some web metric crap? The former mainstream web browsers on XP literally can't even open most web sites now. People using the updated forks that do run on XP may be lying about their OS so sites don't crap on them.

    There are still CNC machines running CP/M and MS-DOS. Scientific testing machines running Windows 98. Somewhere there is probably someone using a PDP-11 or OS/2 for some hidden production purpose.

    Never underestimate the power of legacy equipment.

    If they want to cry about "old" operating systems being a security hazard, let's talk about embedded Internet of Things devices that are only 2 years old and ALREADY TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED! What, talking about that doesn't sell new crap? Oh, I see, they just want everyone to run out and buy a new Dell right now.

    Posted from Microsoft Windows 95.
  • I wander around the murcky places on the Internet and ftp as much as anyone, methinks. I'm still using XP and W7. All that's on these and my W10 machines are baseline MS security, with on demand only. Personally, remain convinced the "oh my God, its a security hazard, we are all going to die", is a well-worn and useless statement.
  • edited December 2020
    There will always be some legacy holdouts, but yeah, it's dead. I believe they do use browser metrics to measure it, but I seriously doubt there's a large enough user base of XP users bypassing restrictions by spoofing the user agent and running ported browsers. Are there some? Sure. Enough to matter? Hell no. It's just not worth the time and effort to save a couple (hundreds) of bucks for the vast majority of the population.

    I get nostalgic for the old stuff from time to time and sometimes it's a fun challenge to get things working again. But don't kid yourself, this is a very niche thing.

    As for security, for the average home user behind a firewall, yeah, you'll probably be fine.

    For the big company with lots of money to steal with a nice juicy target on their back? No. Security is absolutely a priority and it's not just about what you click on. Worms ran rampant because of XPs lax security.
  • @SomeGuy I have further evidence of XP's market share here. As of November 2020, it's 0.79%. I think Vista was around that figure last time I checked. But even so, I expect that number to shrink to almost nothing perhaps by the end of 2021, or maybe 2022 if it's trying its very hardest to survive the "modern web".
  • Why would "market share" matter to anyone haunting a collector's forum?
  • edited January 2021
    I seriously hope MS permanently discontinues XP to the point that they won't threaten to sue you guys if you post the full version of Windows XP.

    As for security, a lot of that was patched in SP3.
  • @Videogamer555 I thought Microsoft already killed it off after the POSReady era. Guess they haven't. I mean, they did kill off Vista for good, haven't they?
  • "I mean, they did kill off Vista for good, haven't they?"

    No, Server 2008 still gets updates until 2023, and those updates mostly work on Vista (except for some .NET ones).
  • 2008 gets updates cause they lumped it in with 2008 R2. And 2008 R2 is getting updates because they want you to run it in Azure. There's a ton of companies that are still running 2008 R2 and can't or won't upgrade to 2019. So they're hoping to entice businesses to use azure by supporting it there for another 3 years.
  • @02k-guy because it's not just a collector's forum. We do other computing discussions here as well, besides just collecting. It's an old computer/abandonware forum.

    The 2008 R2 updates have to be paid for, right? Does that registry tweak still work? I haven't tried it.
  • "Does that registry tweak still work?"
    What registry tweak?

    "We do other computing discussions here as well...It's an old computer/abandonware forum."

    Yes, that was my point. XP is still used.

    I read recently, that MS released an XP security fix in 2019 for one malware exploit.

    I just do not understand what relevance "market share" has in a "old computer/abandonware forum". In an IT sub-forum, yeah, I'd get it.





  • Possibly to gauge whether or not it has achieved abandonware status.
  • If anyone is still wanting something at least close to XP here, Whistler 2542 and Longhorn 3683 are right around it. They're not exactly XP, but close enough in many instances.
  • Good afternoon-
    I've used this website a bit but have signed up to contribute to this thread.

    It is a mistake to think that web usage statistics are a fair measure of OS usage. When I reluctantly stopped using XP on the net I bought a very cheap Win7 tower to browse the web. Through use I found Win7 to be a good OS and over the years I've put more on it than I thought I would and use it more than expected. Nevertheless XP has remained and will remain my main OS. This is simply because, on balance, XP is the better of the two. I am also awaiting delivery of a second hand Dell core2 Duo with 4Gig of Ram as a blooming powerful reserve machine. (my machine is a self built Athlon 2500 with 4Gig Ram)

    This obsession with 'NEW' 'UPDATED' software is daft. The NT OS long ago started to suffer from the law of diminishing returns. XP does everything you can think of and does it well. My system is extensively customized and tweaked to my tastes. It is a pity I now need a second office machine for internet use and if M$ offered security support so it could go back on the web I'd happily pay them £10-£20 a year forever. Alas M$ wants constant change forcing a now totally pointless 'upgrade' cycle.
    Also when you consider that most -Win10 constant change ed- systems are 64bit an awful lot of very good software simply will not run, and this will continue to get worse with every six monthly 'update.'

    On the stat' collators sites I only count as a Win7 user, (soon to change to Linux or 98se with a modern browser.) yet my Main machine is invisible as are my two laptops, one XP and the other Win98se. Why do I use them? Because they do everything I require of them. Both have Notepad++, PagePlus full office suite etc. When I've done I transfer the work to my main XP machine in the office. It does take a long time however . . whole seconds, which I apprieciate is too long for youngsters to wait.

    I have spent years getting things the way I WANT them to be, I do not intend to constantly change everything every few years for little or no gain. I have also spent many hundreds of pounds on software that I have learnt to use to its full potential.

    When my main system eventually dies I'll switch to my newly bought old Dell with XP, then my older XP box and if I'm still alive by the time that dies maybe my present Win7 machine or one of my older Win98 boxes (several around 400 to 1100mhz & 128 to 256MB Ram, all perfectly decent for most tasks.) Browsing the web can be done on anything.
  • @Brithnoth
    This is simply because, on balance, XP is the better of the two.
    And how is it? 7 brought in advancements that actually improved the user experience, such as being able to swap around minimised programs on the taskbar and also System Restore, which I found very useful and still do to this day). I suppose everyone's entitled to have their own opinion but, I don't expect anyone to still use XP as their main OS during the next 10 to 15 years, even if you have your system perpetually disconnected from the Internet (the same for your Win98 SE system).
  • > System Restore
    Um I believe Me introduced that. Unless you mean WinRE, which was introduced on Vista but included on install with 7.

    The "swap around minimized programs" feature is great and all, but has quirks. Such as making a pinned program become part of the main group. Or only being able to move around entire groups, and not individual iterations.

    Nonetheless, on paper sure XP has already died.
    But in reality: no. I still see POS terminals running standard XP Pro even this day and age. And that's the tip of the iceberg.
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