Microsoft to Stop Selling XP June 30, Should we use Vista?

[bloomlight]

Microsoft announced that June 30 is the cut-off date for selling Windows XP. Currently, all of our PCs are running Win XP pro over a LAN. If need to buy new PCs after June 30, Vista will be the only choice. How does Vista work with business network?

Also, we have a small group of users using remote access from their home computers. They may be forced to get Vista when buying new PCs. With majority of PCs running XP and some PCs using Vista on the same network, will this be a problem?

Thanks in advance.

 

[hunterba]

I have two Compaq systems running XP and one HP laptop running Vista in the same wireless LAN. They all share files, the same central back-up and anti-virus application (Live OneSource) and access to a wireless printer and, now that I have sorted out some problems that slowed down the two running XP, all three work flawlessly. The biggest day-to-day issues we face are switching between the different user interfaces and dealing with the small number of compatibility problems caused by running Office 2003 on the XP systems and 2007 on the Vista.

 

[chrissie1]

At least nobody wants Windows ME to return ;-).

Christiaan Baes
Belgium

The future is out there
my blog

 

[wahnula]

I still like Windows 2000

Hear hear!!! Our 10-PC Win2K network has a total of one PC that I would be comfortable running Vista on...I have owned Vista Ultimate since its release, I won't use it unless I'm flogged into using it. The text is not clear enough for me.

I'm staying with Win2K until end-of-support in 2010, and along the way will be buying up XP licenses and upgrading one machine at a time, even the oldest and pokiest machine should be able to handle XP, but definitely not Vista. Then there's the GFX upgrades that Vista requires...feh.

With any luck we'll hold out for Windows 7...

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[CAPPBC]

If this is the case of XP, how fast are vendors going to stop supporting XP? i.e. Security Updates (AV/Firewall/Spyware...etc), Driver updates, etc.

This seems to be the last days for most IT professionals who have deployed and fully vested in XP. I have no negative comments towards Vista but like an earlier reply stated, we are a 501(c)3 non profit organization and funding is scarce. The only way to bring in Vista to the organization, is to deploy slowly as Rob stated. But then theres another issue, we have 7 servers running Win2K which are DC's (I have 6 seperate sites) and 1 Win2K3 server. When the time comes to upgrade the servers to Win2K8 plus hardware, I will be a busy man!

 

[danomac]

This seems to be the last days for most IT professionals who have deployed and fully vested in XP. I have no negative comments towards Vista but like an earlier reply stated, we are a 501(c)3 non profit organization and funding is scarce. The only way to bring in Vista to the organization, is to deploy slowly as Rob stated. But then theres another issue, we have 7 servers running Win2K which are DC's (I have 6 seperate sites) and 1 Win2K3 server. When the time comes to upgrade the servers to Win2K8 plus hardware, I will be a busy man!

Yes, it can be troublesome being a non profit... this coming year's budget is going to be pretty small. We had two good years but now...

I just upgraded our old W2K DC to W2K3 in January, I'm sure you'll have fun with it! ;-)

 

[cdogg]

Just in case this helps, I thought I'd post this (found on MS's website):

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/future.mspx

[navy]Q. What'll happen to Windows XP after June 30? I'm confused.[/navy]

A. In industry speak, this is called "end-of-sales." On June 30, Microsoft will stop distributing Windows XP as a stand-alone product that you can buy shrink-wrapped in the store. We'll also stop sending it to Dell, HP, Lenovo and all the other major PC manufacturers to sell on their PCs.

That said, Windows XP isn't going to disappear overnight.

You may still see copies of the software—or computers pre-loaded with it—for months, as stores and PC makers work through their inventory. Also, smaller local PC makers—known in the industry as "system builders"—can continue to sell PCs with Windows XP until January 2009.

Finally, Microsoft recently announced that computers with limited hardware capabilities—devices sometimes called Netbooks or ultra-low cost PCs (ULCPC)—can carry Windows XP Home until June 2010. (Read about the ULCPC program on Microsoft Presspass.)

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

I think if we all ignore Vista long enough, it will just go away. No wait, that's what I said about XP when I was happy with Windows 2000. Darn, that didn't turn out so well.

So.............. on second thought - better get used to Vista. Learn It Live It Love It because it's not going away, at least not until Microsoft's next product cycle.

I'm really shocked at these kind of threads. Everyone knows you can't fight Microsoft unless you want to immerse yourself in some Linux desktop operating system. Otherwise, just get used to Vista and get enough hardware to run Vista, then set it to look like XP so your users won't feel so blown of out of the water.

http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-25854.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2134805_windows-vista-look-like-xp.html

 

[acewarlock]

I waited until Win98 was stable before I switched from DOS, I just started using WinXP last year because is was finely stable. Now I'm going to wait until Vista is stable before I use it.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[sggaunt]

I waited until Win98 was stable before I switched from DOS

Your still using DOS ?



Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain

 

[reynolwi]

I will admit we still use DOS for several things because Windows XP cant run the software from within DOS while XP is booted. Several of our business apps cant even run Vista so i see it pointless to get vista if its going to be a failure for us.

Wm. Reynolds
Premise Communications
Texas Public Safety Solutions

http://www.rrwds.com

http://www.txpubsafety.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Network Error:
Hit any user to continue

 

[JimInKS]

You can "downgrade" to XP Pro for free IF you have Vista Business or Ultimate. You have to supply your own media.
Here is the link to MS:

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...cbd-699b0c164182/royaltyoemreferencesheet.pdf

 

[donb01]

This seems to be the last days for most IT professionals who have deployed and fully vested in XP. I have no negative comments towards Vista but like an earlier reply stated, we are a 501(c)3 non profit organization and funding is scarce. The only way to bring in Vista to the organization, is to deploy slowly as Rob stated. But then theres another issue, we have 7 servers running Win2K which are DC's (I have 6 separate sites) and 1 Win2K3 server. When the time comes to upgrade the servers to Win2K8 plus hardware, I will be a busy man!

Google a website called techsoupstock - I believe it is techsoupstock.com they are the software gods of the non-profit world, and you will find that many of the key manufacturers are practically giving their stuff away to (legitimate) non-profits. There are sometimes limits, minimum quantities, you can only place orders so many times a year, etc, but it is an awesome resource for those of us in the non-profit world!

 

[eyec]

some of my best tools are/were DOS. most have been replaced with Linux.

 

[wahnula]

Personal update: after weighing the options and talking with the boss, we have made the decision to migrate all our machines that are running Win2K (all seven of them!) to XP, so we don't get caught up in the last-minute buying frenzy that is sure to happen.

Since I built all the machines, an OEM pre-SP2 version of XP Pro cost $114 ea., for a total of ~$800, the price we would need to spend to bring ONE machine up to snuff to run Vista. I have SP2 and SP3 on flash drive.

I did a little research, and since Win2K reaches end-of-support in 2010, and XP reaches the same state in 2014, we will have six years to either upgrade our machines and/or switch to Windows 7, which should be stable by then. In the meanwhile, I can slowly be replacing the PCs with beefier machines, but I think we can completely remove Vista from our inevitable-upgrade cycle.

Remember, even though XP Pro will no longer be sold by vendors on new machines after June 30, it will be available for a long time as an OEM OS on disc until supplies run out. What we did was anticipate the end-of-month run on the OS, and recommend to other small orgs (heck, or big orgs) to do the same. June 30th may come and go with no change in OEM XP prices, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

And to chime in on the ancient-OS topic, I still use (and so do many co-workers) a Windows 3.1 app called Cardfile that is a computer-based Rolodex. So simple and compact, no installation, it runs from the executable when you open it. Why install and use a bloated replacement when a much simpler solution exists? Gee, sorta like Vista...

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[donb01]

Oh yeah - cardfile rocks!

 

[CAPPBC]

I use TechSoup all the time when I can. They have certain restrictions on software/hardware though. I purchased Windows Server 2003 from them and just recently Project 2007 for $24. I am also going to purchase Cisco switches/ASA Firewall for roughly $200 each. Better than 4G's.

 

[shoalcreek]

I definitely believe Windows 2000 was the last time that Microsoft truly upgraded their operating system. I don't see any real upgrades in the future.

I could take a hard drive with Windows 2000 installed on it from one PC to another PC with very few problems. I could Ghost it all I wanted. It also doesn't phone home, like the later versions of Windows do. There was none of this activation crap.

Vista has all this "anti-piracy" crap built in. In most cases, it is just a big nuisance.

 

[CAPPBC]

I just repaired a laptop with Vista. First thing I did was install SP1 because supposedly MS did away with the anti-piracy scheme with the update. I don't know if you recall there was an issue where people were being falsely accused of having pirated Vista OS even though they bought the laptop from a vendor like Toshiba. I would get pissed if I bought a laptop and the privacy was triggered leaving me with a limited functioning laptop. Pretty funny.

 

[wahnula]

I could take a hard drive with Windows 2000 installed on it from one PC to another PC with very few problems. I could Ghost it all I wanted. It also doesn't phone home, like the later versions of Windows do. There was none of this activation crap.

I feel ya buddy. If not for the end-of-support in 2010 I would not even think of replacing it. It's not really all that different from NT 4.0, which I look at as the first "real" upgrade for MS OSes. NT=New Technology, MS is still riding its coattails.

I remember when Win2K came out it was put down for being a "business" OS and everyone still recommended Win98 or ME. I was fearful buying my first laptop with Win2K that it would not be as user-friendly or capable as 98...rubbish! It did everything the others did and was (is) rock-stable. Maybe it's not the greatest for gaming but as a mainstream OS it's hard to beat. They are prying it from my cold, dead hands, to avoid security nightmares without regular WU security updates.

I'm not going to switch to desktop Linux or Mac, so XP it shall be for the next six years!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[cdogg]

I definitely believe Windows 2000 was the last time that Microsoft truly upgraded their operating system

From the desktop side, it really depends on where you're coming from. For surfing the web and word/excel processing, I would agree that 2000 is good enough. In other situations, that's just not the case.

There are many apps our organization supports that run faster under XP than they did under 2000, and usually with less problems. .NET framework and ActiveX have tighter integration with the kernel under XP leading to less headaches with 3rd-party software that rely on both. And I don't know about you, but where I work the PC's with 2000 run a lot slower overall especially on boot time. Even after you setup a fresh image of 2000, it doesn't seem to take long before the PC seems bloated and running slow again. XP seems to last quite a bit longer before that happens...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.