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Senior Technical Editor Martin Rowe covers topics relating to general-purpose instrumentation, compliance, communications test, and anything else that comes along.



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Monday, April 14, 2008

Test engineers should vote to save Windows XP

Apr 14 2008 2:12PM | Permalink |Comments (11) |


Six months ago, I bought a laptop PC. Because I didn't want to use Windows Vista, I bought a used Dell through eBay. Since then, Microsoft announced that it will end sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008. Because the laptop didn’t come with a Windows XP disk, I’m tempted to buy another copy of the operating system just in case I need to reload Windows.

PC-based test systems often have far longer lives than home or office computers. Many of you are still using Windows 2000, Windows 98, and even DOS. Because Windows Vista is a different beast than XP, it may require software changes, especially drivers, to migrate your computers. That’s a risk and expense not often worth taking. 

InfoWorld has started a petition to keep Windows XP on the market. You can get a link to the petition through an AP story, “Users petition to keep Windows XP.”

I urge all engineers who want to keep their Windows XP systems running as long as possible to sign the petition or contact Microsoft directly. You shouldn’t be forced to upgrade your systems just because Microsoft says so.


Related entries in: Instrument-Control Software | Measurement Software | Software Engineering | System Engineering | 

Reader Comments



at 4/14/2008 3:06:59 PM, Allen said:
I absolutly agree with you, we have hundreds of computers running XP and plan to contiue to use XP for a long time to come. We need to keep a standard OS on each test computer.



at 4/15/2008 2:17:31 PM, Jason said:
If you're a software or hardware developer...like me company. You can join one of many Microsoft programs...M-power, MAPS, MSDN... And with that, you get a license for every OS...including DOS or WIN 3.11, if you still need it. Plus severial of there applications too, depending on the program you are in.




at 4/15/2008 10:47:52 PM, Cato said:
How very quaint! You want to ask the multiheaded monster which lives on forcing new versions on the marked to please not eat up your favorite version?

I believe this displays an almost childlike ignorance of the nature of the beast.

You want stable, not force movement? Get Linux. You want Windows convenience? Your soul is already sold.



at 4/16/2008 12:10:17 AM, Antonio said:
For a horseshoe lost a kingdom.
My company can not change every two years the s.o. and aplications. Our products have a life cycle between ten and fifteen years, we are seriuos with our clients. We are thinking to migrate to Linux.



at 4/17/2008 1:45:35 PM, Wong said:
Yes, Microsoft has gone too far. Enough is enough. Right now, I am evaluating switching to Linux on all of our National Instrumets test stations on a go forward basis. Things are looking great for Linux right now. Fast, stable, easy to install and no more expensive, buggy, forced migrations.



at 4/17/2008 1:45:35 PM, Wong said:
Yes, Microsoft has gone too far. Enough is enough. Right now, I am evaluating switching to Linux on all of our National Instrumets test stations on a go forward basis. Things are looking great for Linux right now. Fast, stable, easy to install and no more expensive, buggy, forced migrations.



at 4/17/2008 1:57:03 PM, XPfree said:
All Dell computers shipped with a valid MS OS. When you buy a Dell, you are paying for a MS OS as well. All you need for your laptop or any other Dell motherboard based PC is the Dell recovery disc which is easy to find. As long as the recovery disc sees a Dell motherboard it installs the OS without the need for a key (which should have legally been included with your laptop (its bound to the hardware), but sometimes does get lost).



at 4/18/2008 1:20:22 AM, Cedric said:
I am agree with the most of comments. I think that it is time to migrate towards an operating system suitable to the industrie applications and developers.
Just somethings suitable to work with.
Maybe Linux could be a good solution.
I am looking forwards to have this kind of "PC-Work Station" for my work.





at 4/21/2008 2:39:57 PM, Y said:
Microsoft,
Keep XP alive, you are going to loose a lot of customers



at 6/12/2008 5:25:18 PM, DPORTR said:
I agree Microsoft should keep WinXP alive and supported, without having to subscribe to some sort of update service. We've been forced to upgrade to the next to just get a new bag of bugs. However, if everything you own is on XP, the expense to change to Vista or beyond is prohibitive. Maybe Microsoft wants to lose business, and have everyone get smart and move to Linux!! SURE....



at 7/13/2008 4:14:04 PM, Technistrations - FL said:
If Microsoft doesn't wake-up and smell the coffee on keeping XP viable, we EE's should answer them by embracing Open Source (Linux)in mass protest. No one wants or trusts Vista. Microsoft needs to face the music or else!

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