Mark Jay wrote in part:
"You WILL have to move to Vista. At a point not all that far away you won’t be able to buy XP anymore and it won’t be supported anymore—this event horizon is MONTHS away rather than many years away."
Hans O Oscarsson asks:
What information do you base this statement on - that Windows XP will not be supported MONTHS from now? And, by the way, how many months from now?
What are you trying to achieve stating falsities like this?
Mark Jay responds:
On October 10, 2007 Microsoft ended all public assisted support for Windows XP Service Pack 1. Here’s a link to one of Microsoft’s web pages to document this fact… http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx . Windows XP SP1a public assisted support also ended on October 10, 2007. There are a significant number of users whose hardware isn’t compatible with SP2+. Don’t you remember that controversy? Do you remember when SP 2 was released and there were complaints that SP2 “broke” users machines? Those who had machines that wouldn’t work with SP2 stayed with SP1 and now SP1 support has ENDED—Mainstream support. Of course users can search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and self support—or PAY for support. Have you examined the Knowledge Base? For the average REALTOR the Knowledge Base self support option is just NOT practical support… Here’s a link to a Knowledge Base article that addresses user “problems” with XP2 and a fix…. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842242
Windows XP2c was scheduled for release September of 2007 according to this Microsoft OEM support website: http://oem.microsoft.com/script/sites/public/winxp.htm. Service Pack 2c (SP2c) will be released to provide system builders with a new, extended range of product keys through the scheduled system builder channel end-of-life date of January 31, 2009…. That’s about 13 MONTHS from now.
Here’s a Microsoft page that describes the various product life cycle support policies for Microsoft products: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifecycle. According to this page Mainstream support for XP has already ended but Microsoft has a policy of extending Mainstream Support for a period of 12 to 24 MONTHS after releasing a Service Pack. So the release of XP2c will be supported for 12 to 24 months. How many more Service Pack releases do you think Microsoft will release for XP after the Vista SP1 is released and work begins on Vista SP2? Again—strictly speaking—support CAN be obtained from the Microsoft knowledge base. You describe your problem by entering a narrative into the Knowledge Base search engine and then read through anywhere from a couple to 50+ or so articles until you find your solution. THAT’S not what most non-technical users would consider support. The kind of support I’M referencing is where you pick up the phone and call either Microsoft—if you have a retail Microsoft license—or your System Builder—like HP or Toshiba or Acer—if you have an OEM license—and a service tech comes on the line and solves your problem for FREE. From as near as I can tell from the Microsoft sites; THAT support ending IS months rather than years away as I wrote in the post you are challenging.
Here’s an excerpt from the Windows XP page at Wikipedia that addresses Mainstream Support. Here’s the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Support_lifecycle
“Mainstream support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 will end on April 14, 2009, four years after its general availability[33]. As per Microsoft's posted timetable, the company will stop licensing Windows XP to OEMs and terminate retail sales of the operating system June 30, 2008, 17 months after the release of Windows Vista.[34]
On April 14, 2009, Windows XP will begin its "Extended Support" period that will last for 5 years until April 8, 2014.[35] First generation Windows XP (without Service Pack 2) is no longer supported; Microsoft ended the support for Windows XP RTM on September 30, 2004 ….
Remember too, that Manufacturers of Hardware and Software that operate on the Windows XP platform have already stopped supporting their Windows XP products in many cases. How many cases? Take a look for yourself…. Here’s a link to the 805,000 sites a Google search yeilded from the phrase “Windows XP support discontinued” http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Windows+XP+support+discontinued. If you have an XP machine and software that still works on XP end to THAT support is probably also MONTHS rather than years away too. Go to the Hewlett-Packard web site and see how many XP products are no longer supported. How many HP products do you think will be XP supported in 12 to 24 MONTHS when Vista will be up to SP1 or even SP2 and 2 to 3 years old?
Lastly, If you think that something I wrote is “stating falsities” then you should DOCUMENT support for your assertion rather than just questioning my statement with an unsupported accusation. I know it takes time to do that. The support of my statement contained above took about an hour so I know about how long it can take to refute an easy an unsupported challenge to what someone has written-- but you don’t want to be known as a guy who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, do you? ;-)) ….Although in fairness you ARE right—support WILL continue for XP forever—as long as there is a Microsoft Knowledge Base somewhere on the internet—but that’s not the kind of support that most users—especially REALTORS and others here would consider to be the kind of support they need and find useful and convienient.
Buy a retail copy of Vista Business, load it on a computer you have that will meet the Vista Business system requirements and if you have a problem you can call Microsoft support and they will work with you for HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES to solve your issue FREE OF COST. Try that with XP SP1 and you will be referred to the Knowedge Base for support…. And in MONTHS rather than years the same thing will occur with XP SP2 and later SP2c…. THAT is not the kind of support the vast majority of users would consider support and THAT support expectation is what I had in mind when I wrote what I did. You ARE right that YOU will be able to self support for as long as there is an internet. I bet you could even find support for Windows 3.1. In fact; here’s a link: http://www.logicalsky.com/Windows31_FAQ.htm
Mark Jay, e-Pro
REALTOR and Mortgage Consultant
414-771-7713 Voice
262-853-6001 Voice
Fax number upon request
Southeast Wisconsin MLS Region
Mark@MarkJayRealty.com
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