Life After Windows XP

In a little less than 5 months, Microsoft will be ending the direct OEM and Retail availability of it’s Windows XP operating system. Most recently, InfoWorld has launched a campaign to "Save XP" from it’s inevitable future of unavailability through OEM and Retail channels.

While many have elected to join InfoWorld in it’s "Save XP" initiative, I really think it is time to move past the ever aging operating system and let it go.

In all honesty, we need to be saved from Windows XP. Or at least those that don’t want computing to advance past 2001. InfoWorld’s "Save XP" campaign aimed at convincing Microsoft not to retire Windows XP this year as planned. So far 41,185 people have signed the petition, while this is a worthy effort, it is not going to have an effect on Microsoft plans to retire Windows XP come June 30, 2008.

If there was a time to start adopting Windows Vista, the time is now, Microsoft has worked out almost all of the bugs since the operating system’s Release To Manufacturing in November 2006 and public availability last January. Arguably, Windows Vista is far superior to Windows XP, the purported or so-called problems with the operating system are mostly due to third party developers and not Microsoft itself.

A colleague and fellow blogger Paul Thurrott (who said it best in my opinion) stated in his weekly column over at WinInfo:

"Arguably, we need to be saved from XP. Or at least from the hermitic Luddites that don’t want computing to advance past 2001: In a bald PR move, InfoWorld has launched a "Save XP" campaign, aimed ostensibly at convincing Microsoft not to retire its aging previous Windows version this year as planned. So far 30,000 people have signed the petition, and while I’m sure at least some of them mean well, the rest need to get a life. Vista is vastly superior to XP and most of its so-called problems are really the fault of lazy third part developers who didn’t get their applications and hardware compatible in a timely manner. Keeping XP rolling long would just make this problem even worse." 

Personally, I never really liked Windows XP, I can say now that I have upgraded to Windows Vista, I will NEVER look back at the elder Windows XP. Windows Vista has worked great for me and many of my colleagues and friends since its release. I have only had to reformat my main system twice in 2007 (mostly due to my constant beta application testing) and the testing of Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Windows Vista is superior to XP for several reasons, but I will save the list for another time.

All-in-all, the InfoWorld petition is a useless cry to Microsoft that will never be answered, plain and simple, its time to move past December 31, 2001 and move to the present.

Note: This blog entry was originally posted on thewindowsblog.net. View original post