Here’s not much Microsoft can really do to stop people using XP and force them to upgrade to the, just as fast and way more secure, Windows 7. This is despite all the mounds of positive press their latest desktop OS has received. However they can do little bits here and there.
Recently it was announced that their forthcoming browser, Internet Explorer 9 would not run on Windows XP. This is because it took advantage of technologies that exist only within Vista and Windows 7 to shunt graphics rendering and script processing off to extra parts of your hardware. This is a good move given that it’s what Vista and Windows 7 have always done with the Aero Glass
This week though, and it’s not quite so clear why, they’ve announced that the next version of the Live Essentials suite will also require Windows Vista or Windows 7 to run.
I say not clear because, with the possible exception of Movie maker, there’s nothing in this suite (that includes Live Mail, Live Messenger and Live Photo Gallery) that would need hardware acceleration (correct me if I’m wrong). I can only assume that Microsoft are beginning the process of dropping all support for XP because they know that it’s the only way they’ll ever get people to give up using it.
Sales of Windows 7 have been extremely strong, but sales of Windows XP in the last year have also been extremely strong, especially on netbooks. Now standing against the performance challenged Vista this was unsurprising, but now it must be an enormous thorn in Microsoft’s side.
The company has clearly decided that the time has come to try and force the issue, and it’s a good move. While Service Pack 2 for XP added new features such as a firewall and Data Execution Prevention, the security in this 2001 OS release is unbelievably shoddy compared to what came after it, and no tech observers on the planet will ever disagree.
While XP might be good enough for most computing tasks, it’s simply not good enough in today’s world where the threats to security not only affect you and your own PC, but often have knock-on repercussions for the people around you.
Source
Recently it was announced that their forthcoming browser, Internet Explorer 9 would not run on Windows XP. This is because it took advantage of technologies that exist only within Vista and Windows 7 to shunt graphics rendering and script processing off to extra parts of your hardware. This is a good move given that it’s what Vista and Windows 7 have always done with the Aero Glass
This week though, and it’s not quite so clear why, they’ve announced that the next version of the Live Essentials suite will also require Windows Vista or Windows 7 to run.
I say not clear because, with the possible exception of Movie maker, there’s nothing in this suite (that includes Live Mail, Live Messenger and Live Photo Gallery) that would need hardware acceleration (correct me if I’m wrong). I can only assume that Microsoft are beginning the process of dropping all support for XP because they know that it’s the only way they’ll ever get people to give up using it.
Sales of Windows 7 have been extremely strong, but sales of Windows XP in the last year have also been extremely strong, especially on netbooks. Now standing against the performance challenged Vista this was unsurprising, but now it must be an enormous thorn in Microsoft’s side.
The company has clearly decided that the time has come to try and force the issue, and it’s a good move. While Service Pack 2 for XP added new features such as a firewall and Data Execution Prevention, the security in this 2001 OS release is unbelievably shoddy compared to what came after it, and no tech observers on the planet will ever disagree.
While XP might be good enough for most computing tasks, it’s simply not good enough in today’s world where the threats to security not only affect you and your own PC, but often have knock-on repercussions for the people around you.
Source
