is XP SP3 still a good OS for today's computing?

[xdot.tk]

[Quillz]

And if I could get a screenshot of my Windows 1.01 VM right now, I'd show you how it reboots in about five seconds.

[yowanvista]

People especially noobs will never understand that XP is damn too old to be used on modern PCs.

[Quillz]

People especially noobs will never understand that XP is damn too old to be used on modern PCs.

Exactly. Apparently, an OS is judged solely by how quickly it reboots or can run a web browser.

Thus, Windows 3.11 for Workgroups is obviously the world's greatest OS.

[Frylock86]

If I could screenshot, my hexacore 16GB RAM DOS machine, I could show you that it's instant on! :woot:

[Quillz]

If I could screenshot, my hexacore 16GB RAM DOS machine, I could show you that it's instant on! :woot:

Please, that's nothing compared to my 32 GB 16-core supercomputer running CP/M. Boots up in 0.25 seconds and can run all the latest CP/M software, circa 1974!

[Frylock86]

Just blew away my Win7 installation. I'm already in love!

Look how eloquent and modern it looks! That blue theme just blows me away! So sharp, and crisp compared with AERO.

I also love how the un-aliased text looks on my 22 inch screen! And look how pixelated the default wallpaper is! :blush:

Quick thoughts:

I no longer have to type in a program or file I am looking for as Microsoft has removed the search bar in the Start menu. I love having to dig through various menus to find what I am looking for. Very convenient!

The 'Up' button and various other toolbar buttons are back, creating quite a mess of the UI. It's nice to have the up button back as I can quickly click it numerous times to get back to a root folder.

Driver support is top notch! I love how when I plug in a device, I have to manually go searching for it. That way I can be assured I have the right driver for my "Unknown Device". :)

It's nice no longer having WU integrated into the OS. I never liked having that little icon pop up in the corner telling me updates are available. Now I can choose when to update... Or not even update at all! I can leave my system update free for years, and not have to worry about bad updates crashing my system!

And I love how Windows XP doesn't utilize my GPU at all! That way it's free for when I need it, and considering Windows XP has poor hardware acceleration support, I won't need it at all! See how light on system resources it is! This is excellent! You guys were right all along! Definitely makes things faster! Plus, the "tearing" effect of the windows is pretty cool looking. I can draw the window on the entire screen!

There isn't any built in back up system either it appears. Good extra bloat that is finally gone! :) I mean, who needs to back up their system anyways? Windows XP is as stable and secure as you can get!

I just noticed too, that the classic start menu is back! Sweet! Betty the Secretary is going to love having to make a few extra clicks to get to her documents!

I really don't understand how I was able to "downgrade" from XP. My machine must hate me :(

[NEVER85]

Just blew away my Win7 installation. I'm already in love!

Look how eloquent and modern it looks! That blue theme just blows me away! So sharp, and crisp compared with AERO.

I also love how the un-aliased text looks on my 22 inch screen! And look how pixelated the default wallpaper is! :blush:

Quick thoughts:

I no longer have to type in a program or file I am looking for as Microsoft has removed the search bar in the Start menu. I love having to dig through various menus to find what I am looking for. Very convenient!

The 'Up' button and various other toolbar buttons are back, creating quite a mess of the UI. It's nice to have the up button back as I can quickly click it numerous times to get back to a root folder.

Driver support is top notch! I love how when I plug in a device, I have to manually go searching for it. That way I can be assured I have the right driver for my "Unknown Device". :)

It's nice no longer having WU integrated into the OS. I never liked having that little icon pop up in the corner telling me updates are available. Now I can choose when to update... Or not even update at all! I can leave my system update free for years, and not have to worry about bad updates crashing my system!

And I love how Windows XP doesn't utilize my GPU at all! That way it's free for when I need it, and considering Windows XP has poor hardware acceleration support, I won't need it at all! See how light on system resources it is! This is excellent! You guys were right all along! Definitely makes things faster! Plus, the "tearing" effect of the windows is pretty cool looking. I can draw the window on the entire screen!

There isn't any built in back up system either it appears. Good extra bloat that is finally gone! :) I mean, who needs to back up their system anyways? Windows XP is as stable and secure as you can get!

I just noticed too, that the classic start menu is back! Sweet! Betty the Secretary is going to love having to make a few extra clicks to get to her documents!

I really don't understand how I was able to "downgrade" from XP. My machine must hate me :(

:laugh: Best post ever.

[MtnDewCodeRedFreak]

Just blew away my Win7 installation. I'm already in love!

Look how eloquent and modern it looks! That blue theme just blows me away! So sharp, and crisp compared with AERO.

I also love how the un-aliased text looks on my 22 inch screen! And look how pixelated the default wallpaper is! :blush:

Quick thoughts:

I no longer have to type in a program or file I am looking for as Microsoft has removed the search bar in the Start menu. I love having to dig through various menus to find what I am looking for. Very convenient!

The 'Up' button and various other toolbar buttons are back, creating quite a mess of the UI. It's nice to have the up button back as I can quickly click it numerous times to get back to a root folder.

Driver support is top notch! I love how when I plug in a device, I have to manually go searching for it. That way I can be assured I have the right driver for my "Unknown Device". :)

It's nice no longer having WU integrated into the OS. I never liked having that little icon pop up in the corner telling me updates are available. Now I can choose when to update... Or not even update at all! I can leave my system update free for years, and not have to worry about bad updates crashing my system!

And I love how Windows XP doesn't utilize my GPU at all! That way it's free for when I need it, and considering Windows XP has poor hardware acceleration support, I won't need it at all! See how light on system resources it is! This is excellent! You guys were right all along! Definitely makes things faster! Plus, the "tearing" effect of the windows is pretty cool looking. I can draw the window on the entire screen!

There isn't any built in back up system either it appears. Good extra bloat that is finally gone! :) I mean, who needs to back up their system anyways? Windows XP is as stable and secure as you can get!

I just noticed too, that the classic start menu is back! Sweet! Betty the Secretary is going to love having to make a few extra clicks to get to her documents!

I really don't understand how I was able to "downgrade" from XP. My machine must hate me :(

:laugh: ! Best post ever.

I hope that post would shut the XP fanboys up for once and for all. Earlier today, I went back to XP to get a file I saved from a long time ago .... ick. It makes me want to grab a pair of yellow cleaning gloves and a barf bag.

Seriously, the OP had opened a can of worms about this. Never again, hopefully!

[HawkMan]

And if I could get a screenshot of my Windows 1.01 VM right now, I'd show you how it reboots in about five seconds.

To bad that's meaningless anyway, that would be rebooting from an system that's completely blank into what's possibly not even a usable desktop.

now use the computer for a full day first, then reboot, and you'll see that XP reboots take far longer, while 7 will reboot in the same time, and 7's desktop will be usable after that time, whereas XP won't be. on top of that, you don't really need to reboot 7, you use sleep, which reduces that time to about 1 second. (and sleep doesn't work that well on XP)

[Derp]

I have a PC win WinXP SP3 and it runs fine. The only downside would be that some developers are not supporting the OS in up coming games.

[Frylock86]

I have a PC win WinXP SP3 and it runs fine. The only downside would be that some developers are not supporting the OS in up coming games.

It was bound to happen. With DX10/11 not supporting XP, users will have to upgrade to get the latest games. DX9/XP held gaming back for too long.

[soldier1st]

What games?

if i recall right. it was: mech commander 2(it did kinda work, but if i tried to change the quality settings or anything it would get messed up and barely be useable), star trek armada 2(kept crashing everytime i launched it), Star Trek Armada II Fleet Operations(would work sometimes, also at times it wanted admin rights but other times even with admin rights, it would act up). star trek legacy(4 installs because of seperate mods for each)(it would sometimes not work)star trek bridge commander(everytime i quit the game, the compatability thing came up and when it crashed windows error reporting came up(that's normal for something that crashes) but very soon, i am planning on having 7 on here again with xp, so i can see if those problems do happen again or not.

[notuptome2004]

so older older games . ok but so what they are older but you can run them in XP mode and they should run fine maby but still no reason to bash 7 for any issues you have knowing those games are older but those be selected older titels i tho have run many older games like some star wars games and **** from 1997 just fine on t my setup windows 7

[Frylock86]

Lol. I still dual boot Vista to run Star Trek Armada. Fun game.

[syobon999]

XP was enough, now MS is killing it, won't last for long, If XP x64 wasn't crap I would use it, Im just on 7x64 because XPx86 won't recognize all my RAM

every thing 7/vista has in advantage XP has in lightweight, all modern VGA still support XP and will for a long time.

[Rigby]

My Commodore 64 boots instantly!

[PGHammer]

All our computers at work use XP. We're a computer repair shop. Despite what many people here will rant and rave to you about, XP is a stable, dependable system.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that when dealing with newer hardware, certain vendors have stopped supporting/supplying drivers for XP. As time goes on, this will become a bigger issue.

If you have no plans on changing your applications (including upgrading said applications), that is the only time I advise against upgrading your operating system.

However, if you plan on upgrading so much as a single application (or adding any new applications), then running a past-EOL operating system (from anyone) is a Really Bad Idea.

And being a computer repair shop (where I got my exposure to how businesses really think about computers, as it was generally their IT staff and other decision makers that came in, either to have work done on their own PCs or to buy parts to repair/upgrade said machines), it's your customers that determine where you are as a business. If your customers are running Windows 7, running XP (or even being seen to run XP) on modern hardware is not a good sign. CareFirst BlueCrossBlueShield (one of the larger BlueCrossBlueShield associations in the US) has been bugging Cisco to update their TelePresence VPN software (which is used by their teleworkers, which are most of the higher third of their employees) to support 7 x64 directly. The teleworkers are horked off because the x32 limitations of Windows are impacting how much they can do (just as the DOS underpinnings of Windows 9x roadblocked a lot of what individuals, small/home-based businesses, and enterprise users could do - regardless of what it was). CareFirst is horked off because - the teleworkers are right. If you need to do more with less (which is the mantra for darn near everybody these days; CareFirst isn't alone in that thinking) then the one area that you shouldn't artificially limit yourself is the operating system on which your business/life/world runs.

At the very minimum, consider crossgrading to XP64 (which you should be able to do at no cost) if the hardware and applications you have today are x64-ready. If you find that the applications support Vista x64, but not XP64, then even Vista x64 remains a viable option; unlike XP64, it hasn't reached EOL status yet.

I crossgraded to x64 myself (I was running Vista x32 at the time) *after* crossgrading three customers (two running XP, in fact) to the x64 iteration. Only one of the three had as much RAM as I did at the time; the others had less - one XP-based PC had a mere 512 MB of RAM! Unless the applicatgion or hardware was x64-hostile (none was - I did my homework first before the crossgrade), the impact of crossgrading was not negative in any way. The gains may have been minimal, but the lack of losses alone made it worth it.

[Seizure1990]

XP64 has quite a few issues with software and hardware compatibility. I know, because I used to run it at home.

Also, I could be wrong, and correct me if I am, but I don't think you can upgrade from XP32 to 64 for free. They are two different MS products, built on two different code bases. I know that Vista and 7 allow you to use the same serial for either version, but I don't think XP is the same.

so older older games . ok but so what they are older but you can run them in XP mode and they should run fine maby but still no reason to bash 7 for any issues you have knowing those games are older but those be selected older titels i tho have run many older games like some star wars games and **** from 1997 just fine on t my setup windows 7

I think you are horribly confused. Nobody here is bashing 7. Ok, some are, but most people are simply saying that there are still reasons to stay with XP, regardless of 7's improvements. First off, XP compatibility doesn't work for everything, and this has been mentioned a few times, so please, stop parroting that. Just because it works for your games, doesn't mean it works for all. That's a logical fallacy.

Second off, for pete's sake, please take the time to use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It's a holy terror trying to decipher your posts.

[PGHammer]

No man. I think you should go for DOS. Why waste 15 1/2 GB of your RAM, when you can waste all of it?

Then you haven't even *tried* eComStation, which is OS/2 grown-up.

Unlike even OS/2 4.52 (the last version that IBM itself sold in North America), eComStation supports modern hardware, all the RAM you can throw at it, and lots of different filesystem options (including NTFS' direct ancestor, the High Performance File System of the original OS/2 and NT 3.x).

Further, if you *must* run those Windows applications, you can always run the Windows of your choice in a virtual machine, via VirtualBox/2 (a freeware add-in from Oracle).

What forces eComStation into a niche is the same reason, pretty much, that desktop Linux distributions are still niche operating systems - lack of mainstream native non-vertical applications from major software vendors (outside of Web browsers and other semi-niche utilities).

There was plenty of capability in even OS/2 2.1 (which I was running, in fact, when Windows 95's beta widened) - enough capability, in fact, to cause Microsoft major consternation. (OS/2 2.1 competed heads-up with not only NT 3.x, but MS-DOS+Windows, and it was priced between them.)

Further, eComStation is easy to trial - there is a live demo CD image available from eComStation directly. (And eComStation itself is also VM-able; while VMware and VirtualBox require hardware virtualization to run any version of OS/2 in a VM, Windows Virtual PC (or any earlier version of VirtualPC) does not.)

There are stil plenty of options and alternatives to even Windows.

[Seizure1990]

Personally, I'm waiting for ReactOS to reach beta. (Currently in alpha state)

It's an open-source OS based around the NT specifications. They're coding their own kernel from the ground up, with the aim of making it 100% NT compatible.

(don't get your hopes up, they've been in alpha for a very long time

[+Warwagon MVC]

And if I could get a screenshot of my Windows 1.01 VM right now, I'd show you how it reboots in about five seconds.

Are restart times really that important? How many times are most people restarting there machines? Personally I just restart when I install the latest windows update.

[Seizure1990]

I restart every half hour, since my internet tends to slow down after some time, and I start getting annoying popups. Restarting fixes the problem for about 20 minutes.

[Grunt]

I restart every half hour, since my internet tends to slow down after some time, and I start getting annoying popups. Restarting fixes the problem for about 20 minutes.

PEBCAK.

Had your machine healthchecked lately?

[Seizure1990]

I was trying to be funny. Guess I didn't do a good job.