66% Of All Windows Users Still Use Windows XP

[Clint]

XP64 SP1 on workstation, 2003 SP1 on WSUS box and win 7 on laptop. My Vaio couldnt handle the network switching app and SSD trim properly in XP, otherwise I'd stay on that there as well (and get a 1h longer battery-time). I see absolutely no value in a fancy UI, I don't sit and stare on the desktop nor flipping windows all day. I work in applications 98% of the time, and once there it's just not visible anymore (except ridicoulus semi-transparent borders). XP is simply a too good product, thats why corp stays on it. Only thing MS can do is force me/them over is with leave out support in IE and DX tech. My WSUS box has some 50GB of updates for all win versions, I will stay on the XP/2003 until it gets unbearable, which still is far away. Probably will go Linux anyway.

[flopper]

windows 7 is a great OS.

[s1nykuL]

I can only speculate as to why others still use XP. But I don't think I will bother, as it's already been said.

I know why I still do, however bear in mind my first computer was a Spectrum 48 and my first PC ran DOS 3.2. I wasn't born into a world where PC's were made for consumers. I wasn't even born into a world with PC's

Why I still use XP:
It works and it works well and it is fast, I can't remember the last time I had a blue screen, perhaps I am not over clocking far enough
I know XP very well and it is tweaked, locked down, and set up just the way I like to work.
I like to know what my OS is doing and where and how it does it. Win 7 is another step towards isolating users from that knowledge. Yes I know that for the consumer user this is probably for the best, it certainly cuts down support calls if the user cannot break the OS.
I don't want or need all the bells and whistles in Win 7.
With the exception of DX11 Win7 offers me nothing over XP.


I have a triple boot system.. Ubuntu/Win XP/Win 7
So I do use Win 7, and it runs well on my PC. But I only use it for games and that usage is very rare as the vast majority of PC games are ports and only use DX9, and the majority of games that do utilise a DX10/11 code path look little different from their DX9 versions.

In all honesty, if Cubase and PC games ran natively on Linux I wouldn't use MS software at all.

[ewitte]

People hated Vista. In fact we never had a big rollout with Vista. Now 90% of the new machines going out have windows 7 on it and 10% Windows XP. I wouldn't be surprised if we were responsible for putting 500-1000 windows 7 machines out this year. Still only about 15% 64-bit though. Usually people with high memory needs and newer software. We have an entire 35-40 user site going out with minimum 4GB, 8GB and even 16GB on some workstations.

XP breaks really easy these days for people with bad surfing habits. These are the first people we recommend getting off XP.

[FreeRadical]

Why I still use XP:
It works and it works well and it is fast, I can't remember the last time I had a blue screen, perhaps I am not over clocking far enough
I know XP very well and it is tweaked, locked down, and set up just the way I like to work.
I like to know what my OS is doing and where and how it does it. Win 7 is another step towards isolating users from that knowledge. Yes I know that for the consumer user this is probably for the best, it certainly cuts down support calls if the user cannot break the OS.
I don't want or need all the bells and whistles in Win 7.
With the exception of DX11 Win7 offers me nothing over XP.

This. Exactly the same reason _I_ am still on XP. Have installed Win 7 x64 too but it would take me ages to tweak it the way I have done my XP.

I dislike what they have done with WinSXS (also on Vista) too although I can vlite it.
Plus the beep hardware and several such stuff which I can do on WinXP but can't on Win 7/ Vista since some wiseguy at MS decided what hardware I can run and what I can't.
My XP install is 4 years old. It doesn't break if you know what you are doing and have weekly backups (offline ones and not crappy system restore)

For people with bad surfing habits, Firefox + NoScript and a good antivirus software like Kaspersky is my best suggestion, and not a change in OS.

[Sparky]

XP is "fast" because it was designed to be able to run on a pentium 2

[Den Leiw]

Still using XP on my main rig. It's fast and stable, that's all I want from an OS. Plus I haven't seen any bluescreen in like 3-4 years...
My secondary rig with Win7 just feels overall slower and I'm having occasional bluescreens and a few older games don't even work.

[FlawleZ]

Windows 7 is great. We currently run it in every machine at home except 1. I have a 6400+ rig that I use for when I work at home that has a slough of productivity software and for just general toying with. Its the only PC I use and own that runs XP anymore.

I finally upgraded my Dell work PC with 7 which originally came with XP but with an E4600 and 4GB of ram it runs smooth as butter on Win 7. I was just avoiding having to resinstally 20+ programs and the other inconveniences that come with a reformat. I personally feel any modern PC (at least dual core and 2GB+ RAM) can run Windows 7 just fine. However in the corporate environment its inevitably a large cost to incur to upgrade the OS when many times it will require a hardware upgrade as well. At home, there will always be exceptions, but only for very low end computers, legacy hardware, or for the few exceptions of software incompatibilities should they be running Windows XP.

Also probably one of the biggest factors to maintaining support for XP from OEMs and software companies is the advent of the Netbook.

[Aielman]

There's some very real cost issues with corporate rollouts for those companies that don't have software assurance. There's also a rather huge learning curve for your run of the mill, dumber than a bag of hammers, user that are slowing some deployments.

In our environment, for example, buying cals for 54k machines is a big nut during a time when we're in serious budget straights.

[FlawleZ]

There's some very real cost issues with corporate rollouts for those companies that don't have software assurance. There's also a rather huge learning curve for your run of the mill, dumber than a bag of hammers, user that are slowing some deployments.

In our environment, for example, buying cals for 54k machines is a big nut during a time when we're in serious budget straights.

Exactly.

Someone earlier mentioned money. Newsflash: We're in a global recession, budgets are tight and costs are cut. For many companies what was once a standard step forward in periodic equipment upgrades is now being postponed or cancelled to make room for other expenditures.

[s1nykuL]

For people with bad surfing habits, Firefox + NoScript and a good antivirus software like Kaspersky is my best suggestion, and not a change in OS.

Absolutely.

I also recommend using a different media player, a different email client and a different software firewall. A firewall that cannot have exceptions added by an installer or other software.

[s1nykuL]

XP is "fast" because it was designed to be able to run on a pentium 2

Sure was, and don't forget the 128Mb RAM requirement.

That's why it flies on a c2d @ 3.4ghz with 4Gb RAM.
Now it's my turn to

[ThugsRook]

XP here on all my rigs, and all my laptops have been reverted to XP.

i cant stand Vista or 7.

[Syn.]

Exactly.

Someone earlier mentioned money. Newsflash: We're in a global recession, budgets are tight and costs are cut. For many companies what was once a standard step forward in periodic equipment upgrades is now being postponed or cancelled to make room for other expenditures.

Newsflash: The companies have had 10 years to prepare to upgrade their IT systems. The recession today is overly used as an excuse to cut the number of jobs and make every working person who does not hold a managerial position a slave.

Upgrading the IT systems to Win7 would bring a new boon to IT industry with more jobs being offered/needed. How quick would a company cut the number of jobs in the IT department if they are needed to redeploy hardware/software through out the company? Also who is going to help the tech oblivious masses and re-train them?

The only way out of the recession is if everyone spends MORE money! By everyone i mean every major corp and thieving banker.

Upgrading to Win7 will:
- Create more jobs in IT industry, manufacturing and education.
- Increase the revenue in consumer products as people buy new PC's and new accessories.
- Create a much happier working atmosphere as working in an office will become a lot more entertaining.
- Increase work efficiency.
- Help the world get out of the recession
- Get more geeks laid as the tech newbies have to ask for help again!
- Update the geek stereotype to the much better modern version where geeks become everyone!

Windows7 is a great OS, there is nothing about WinXP that is better. If you have the hardware to run it then you are just letting your self down, your PC deserves better. The whole world will benefit if everyone upgrades to Win7.

If that's not enough then remember, it will finally kill IE6 once and for all!!!!!!!!!

[FischOderAal]

As long as the PC is fast enough, I see no reason to avoid Win 7. It's a very good OS that has brought many enhancements. Up until Win 7 Microsoft was way behind OS-X and Linux in terms of useability.

My sister's laptop is still running XP and my father's is running Windows 2000, because they are rather slow.

[Xoulz]

I still us XP, though it is not my main rig, same with family members. Their new systems are 7, their secondary is still XP.. people own more than 1 computer now. Flawed premis.

[mutantmagnet]

I still see no reason why people are using windows xp and not 7...

You still have to pay for it. Not interested until I'm ready to get a new rig.

[ewitte]

Sure was, and don't forget the 128Mb RAM requirement.

That's why it flies on a c2d @ 3.4ghz with 4Gb RAM.
Now it's my turn to

I've seen similar systems grind to a halt on XP because of what users did to it.

[Frisch]

"I'm still on DOS 5.02 and considering an upgrade to DOS 6.1 ....It's just that I have get used to making coffee while it boots, and I won't break that pattern....and I like my commands....."

[Behemot]

Newsflash: The companies have had 10 years to prepare to upgrade their IT systems. The recession today is overly used as an excuse to cut the number of jobs and make every working person who does not hold a managerial position a slave.

Newsflash: MS had 10 years to creat OS which will be really worth of migration. Somehow they epicly failed (again) and had to make new repaired version really fast (again).

They even still didn't make better filesystem instead of old NTFS which they stole from IBM (that's maybe the actuall reason they just still talk about it, again).

[mrcape]

I think part of the problem is green IT staff which is a product of using one OS for ten years straight. The guys I speak to are shaking in their boots about a mass OS upgrade - wimps! It's not Vista, and it's up to SW developers to adapt to the new OS. Plus XP mode solves 99% compatibility issues. A lot of this hold up is corporate fear.

Imagine moving from DOS to 3 to workgroups to NT in like 4 years - we did it. Come on sissies!

[sergiu]

I have a laptop IBM T60 CPU Core 2 duo 1.66Ghz,3GB ram with XP Professional. It uses ~250MB memory at a cold startup. It is used for internet browsing, music, movies and software development. My question is: do I get any advantages if I switch to windows 7 ? My needs are max battery life which is obtained by CPU undervolting via RMClock (no win7 support), fast response times and as much memory free as possible for my applications (I disabled memory swapping to avoid hdd activity and decrease response times)
I am using windows 7 at work on a core i7 860 with 8GB ram and sometimes I have the feeling that is not working faster than my laptop.

[mrcape]

I dunno about the battery, but I upgraded two 2006 asus coreduo laptops to Win7 pro on Intel SSDs and it was like night and day. I'll never purchase a spinning drive or install XP again unless I'm playing SuperPi 32M.

[Behemot]

It uses ~250MB memory at a cold startup.

You can push it as low as 150 MB with TinyXP It also eats me some 3 GB's from disk at maximum (with Documents folder and swap file on another partition).

[SimonD]

Its such an investment to change platform... 25k strong puters would incurr a few hundreds of thousands to upgrade...
plus the process...

Actually I kinda disagree with this, if a company has 25k computers then they sure as hell should have purchased the SA when they purchased the OS CALS.

As far as XP is concerned, everyone I know (in a personal capacity, business is different) has stopped using XP years ago.
In the corporate world I am seeing XP deployments decline year after year, more and more Win 7 deployment experience is being required in the roles I am looking at now.

XP had it's time, it's time that it rolled over and died the quiet death it deserves.