In this post I would like to summarize how the computer world has evolved since I installed my first Windows 95 (now the most purists will be rubbing their hands thinking that they already worked with MSDOS) :)
By doing a bit of a historical summary we will be able to understand what all this means about Windows stopping support for Windows XP.
We get inside the time machine... we throw 25 years back... and we pull the lever!
When I started doing things with computers there weren't many possibilities. We came from diverse environments: ZX spectrum, amstrad, comodore 64... all of them based on linear programming (like basic), without window environments, no mice, no massive viruses! ;)
Windows 95 was a window system with its word processor; and it was a marvel to be able to do work with a very "fairground" Wordpad, but that allowed making titles, putting images, centering the text... and best of all: saving the works on the desktop for subsequent last-minute touch-ups. Presentations of work done with a printer and not by hand were a literal novelty. Many of us passed because of the presentations more than for the content!!!!
Windows 95 progressed and gave way to one of Microsoft's best systems, the basis of everything that moves between windows today: Windows 98 and its remodeling Windows 98SE (second edition). The truth is that many of us have worked and done wonders with this operating system: the first chats over the Internet with BBS, the first web page programming (I especially remember the one for Radio Santa Cristina 20 years ago! with javascript and spectacular sounds), Altavista (which would later give way to Google)... and... those "blue screens" that were followed by a: "Mother of God lord!!! Now don't hang yourself! You cursed thing!!!!"
It was the 90s and there was no stress! ;)
The instability of the system and the fact that processes got hung, resetting, as well as having to restart the machine for any changes in hardware or panel options; promoted new evolutions. Windows ME (Millenium Edition) arrived ... which, with its name, announced what no one knew yet: after a good operating system Microsoft "innovated" by creating "ME" (and you can read the "m" followed by the "e" as organic waste that smells very bad)
Windows Millenium was a failure, it crashed, compatibility drivers for peripherals were missing, programs didn't work... Thus, we computer scientists learned that it didn't have to be changed. If that was going well, there was no need to touch it; and we reinstalled the brand new Windows 98SE.
On the other hand I remember that it was also the time to get our act together with other operating systems. Personally I chose Linux, in those days the text-based distribution, Slackware.
Microsoft sales were getting worse and worse and horizontal window environments for Linux were starting to come out: KDE, GNOME... Linux was looking more and more like the Windows window environment but with greater stability. To us bolder users it fascinated us not having to pirate the operating system and working with old machines with high performance. Old PCs with MMX processor architectures (the beginning of the famous pentium) were coming out of the closet full of dust to breathe fresh air again! In addition, Linux allowed setting up web page servers, databases, proxies... and many more things, and all free and without commercial barriers. I discovered the RedHat, Suse distributions and finally the one I've stayed with until today: Debian (in my opinion, the best Linux distribution for network servers).
At the same time, Windows users' complaints asked for a new canned operating system. Against all odds, Microsoft did things right this time. Windows 2000 and its family of Server systems, Windows 2000 Server, were born. A bit made up and with a more commercial name we have known it until today as Windows XP. Personally, the most used, most stable and most "flattered" (applause) system from Microsoft. A system that was created in 2001 and that reached until 2011 installed in new computers that were displayed in shopping centers around the world for their sale.
However, we computer scientists took 2 good years to change our Windows 98 SE, just in case! We wanted to know that it really worked! We wanted to be sure that it wasn't a new scare. It was with Service Pack 1 (a set of security "band-aids") when the time came to change. Aishhhhh! What times those were! I still had hair! A long ponytail!
And happiness brought the Internet boom, dynamic webs, forums... and ...viruses, security errors, DoS attacks and many other things. The "band-aids" (security updates) were coming out and Microsoft was forced to release up to 3 Service Packs (boxes of grouped "band-aids").
... (happy years)
But as we already know, after a good system comes a "ME" system. Windows Vista. The worst operating system from Microsoft. What can I tell you? Surely you've already heard of it! My mother, what a badly made thing! Long live Windows XP!
Computers with Windows Vista reached the workshop and people asked us to put a Linux, an XP, or whatever... they cried! And if it wasn't possible! They asked us to change the PC for a typewriter!
Bad times for Microsoft! The commercial rebirth of Apple; which in those times was more destined for graphic arts circles. Others also surprise us, Google for example, with its Android based on Linux! And the versions of Ubuntu again based on Linux and that are easier and easier to install, friendly to work with, aesthetic...
Microsoft starts to suffer, it has to do things right! If not, the market is willing to try new platforms... and Linux is changing!
That's how Windows 7 was born, a marvel. Really! A marvel!
Now they want to sell us Windows 8, another of those "ME" editions; and not content, they kill Windows XP... well, they stop: "giving support".
Maybe the time for Linux has finally come?
Now that we have a bit of historical knowledge of everything that has happened we can understand the following:
Microsoft stopping support doesn't mean that Windows XP stops working, it just means that they won't release new "band-aids" for their operating system. A system that already has a stable alternative, Windows 7.
The "band-aids" serve to resolve security errors. So that virus or bad guys don't enter through the back door. So that the operating system is more stable. A system, Windows XP, that is already stable and friendly enough compared to Windows 8.
All this doesn't mean that we have to throw away the computer. If we do this we give them the reason, and we are part of this wheel with teeth of consumerism and stupidity that prevails in shopping centers. How well I've said that! I sound like a politician, eh?
Linux is present, it's friendly in distributions like Ubuntu, free, and designed for networks; which means that its permission structure doesn't allow it to be infected so easily. In addition, it runs with a lower level of resources, which means, in summary, that the machine will go faster.
Normally we use the computer to browse the Internet, collect emails, download something (pirate! or not)... so... Why not install a different system on my old PC? Maybe it helps us all to open our minds, stop infections, create new connections... and in the end... stop making rich people who don't contribute anything new to us.
Do we have to change XP?
Maybe a good practice if we run a company is to start thinking about making a migration. It is possible, I emphasize possible and not sure, that some error of the "0 day" type could come out that causes Windows XP to restart or stop working. I remember the old "Blaster" around the year 2001. This infection derived from "Nimda", attacked a process of XP that caused the system to restart automatically when turned on (it was fixed with one of the "band-aids" from Service Pack 1).
However, in 30 years I've been in computing, I've seen 2 or 3 of these serious errors!
On the other hand, if we are individuals, we can experiment with new systems: Ubuntu is a good free alternative, safe and easy.
... and for the future... a wish... why not ask for computers without a canned system?
I invite you to make the reflection!