An Open Letter to People/ Businesses Still Holding On to Windows XP

1. I am not going to put up any words for Windows 8. It looks stupid, and doesn't have a useful edge over Windows 7.
2. This isn't going to be a nice show-off of Windows 7's good features, because clearly, you can't see them.

Home User:

You either have really modest needs, or you're too old. Let me tell you that even if you don't buy new hardware, your 6-7 year old Celeron machine can handle Windows 7 and whatever legacy software that you might still be using. If you just don't care, you better know that when Microsoft does eventually pull the plug on your system, you better take it off the grid for good because every rookie hacker is going to have a plethora of exploits in the un-updated Windows XP-based machines to make use of. Unlike businesses with firewalls and proxy servers that protect them (relatively), you are in the open.

TL/DR: Keep using XP only if you won't connect your PC to the Internet.





Businesses:

This is a really tough situation: you may have custom ERP/CRM/other softwares worth $$$ that you deployed on XP and you're not sure whether you want to disturb the peace in your environment. Plus, the purchasing, finance and audit departments will pick on your head like a hyper-active woodpecker. And they might actually have a point, for these investments haven't been fully depreciated yet. Add to those the R&D department (if you ARE the software house). You know that you not going to get a Windows XP driver for your next batch of hardware is now a serious real threat.

Suggestions:

1. Request support from the software provider to confirm compatibility and/or a list of necessary changes to the software (if any are needed). TL/DR believes that the sooner you do this the better your results would be, for the team that built and deployed your system will still be there, and the details of your deployment story & problems faced are fresh(er) in their memories. After all, not all problems are document-able.
2. Learn the time cost as well as the money cost.
3. Please try a pilot of migrating one department/ a small work group to Windows 7.

TL/DR: Ask the system provider about possibility of migrating your setup to Windows 7/ 2008. Learn the time and money commitment needed. Start a pilot. Migrate.