It was born at the end of 2001. It was greatly received as most everyone who experienced it loved it much better than many of its predecessors. It entered our computing lives at that time and continued on in new computers into 2010. It was supposed to disappear from our screens several years ago. However, due to its popularity and the love of the masses it has lasted for all of this time. However, the sad news is that it will officially RIP on the eleventh of April, 2014.
What the heck am I talking about? Give yourself a minute and guess before you look down.
I am referring to Windows XP. Yes, as of April, 2014 it will no longer be supported by Microsoft. It terms of computers 13 years is quite old. I do not know how to convert it to human years for a comparison. But I can tell you that is a long, long time for an operating system to remain in operation.
I encourage you to not think badly of Microsoft for doing this to you. All operating systems have had an end of life built into them, so this is nothing new. For instance, Windows 7 support ends January, 2020 and Windows 8, "End of Extended Support" date is January, 2023. They do not necessarily just do this for the money since software needs to be modernized on occasion in order to keep up with advances in technology. Computers upgrade and have new features and components which the operating systems must be able to use efficiently so they fade away.
What does this mean if you are still using Windows XP on your computer? First, I would suggest that you should have changed to Windows 7 a while back. If not it will now be easiest to get Windows 8. Seven is still available in very limited places. Many new computer manufacturers have downgrade rights which allow you to roll back to Windows 7 Pro. You need to investigate if that is what you want before a new computer purchase. Next it means that even if you are running the latest security updates of your antivirus software you could still get viruses. Windows itself updates to fight viruses but since it will be out of support it will update no more. You could also be at a security disadvantage if you use MS Internet Explorer as your browser since the newest versions will not run on XP.
In my opinion one of the worst things to happen to XP lovers who have not upgraded to Windows 7 is Windows 8. The change from XP to Seven was significant but you could figure it out fairly quickly. However, the differences in the GUI (Graphical User Interface or the way it looks and operates) is MAJOR from XP to Eight. You will be lost for quite a while if you skipped Windows 7.
I do not believe the end of extended support will change for XP but these dates are not in stone. XP has already been extended several times. Vista was only supported from 2007 through 2011 so you do not always get a long time span.
I have recently installed Windows 8.1 on one of my computers so next year you will start hearing more about it…until at least 2023.
