How long will Windows XP last?

exampasser

So how long do you guys think Windows XP will last?

KGhaleon

Our company is slowly starting to move to Windows 7, we are in testing now.

We practically just got rid of our windows 2000 machines.

RobertKaucher

I still have a Win 98 box at my shop.

matradley

What are you saying!? We still have a Windows 3.1 box running.

chmorin

As a primary operating system, I know our college is currently working on compatibility with Windows 7 and we all use Windows 7 boxes for ourselves and Server 2008. So, I'd say a year or two.

wd40

Until people are eventually forced to upgrade.

When Microsoft stops official support, companies will have to upgrade "For Audit reasons" or Pay a big amount of money to get support from Microsoft.

earweed

As long as companies have people capable of keeping their old operating systems running they'll avoid upgrading,

TheShadow

Considering that netbooks were selling last December with XP loaded, a couple of years still.

GWadejr34

TheShadow wrote: »

Considering that netbooks were selling last December with XP loaded, a couple of years still.

Last December? One of my employees bought a Toshiba NB yesterday with XP running on it.

mikedisd2

It was a good OS and support will end 2014. So I'm saying another 4 years.

Claymoore

You need to fix your poll and replace VMWare with Virtualization. XP will continue to have a long life in a virtual environment, but the majority of that virtual install base will be in XP Mode / MED-V using Virtual PC rather than VMWare Workstation. Nothing against the other virtualization products - they will all have their share of the pie - but it's hard to beat the free product that integrates so tightly with the host OS.

We are seeing a lot of large corporations with serious interest in deploying Windows 7 this year. I don't consult in the small business world, but it wouldn't surprise me to see smaller businesses staying on XP regardless of MS support or license violations. XP may not be completely displaced at these shops until vendors no longer make XP drivers for their hardware.

I could write more on this than anyone would like to read in a post since most of my work in the last year has involved Windows 7. The decisions to move or not to move to Win7 are complex, especially with multiple business units that use unique Line of Business applications.

JDMurray

matradley wrote: »

What are you saying!? We still have a Windows 3.1 box running.

Windows 9x, 2000, and MS-DOS are still going strong too. WinXP is so common that I think it'll still be in regular use 20 years from now.

There seems to be an odd notion among consumers that when a vendor stops supporting a product they also abandon all rights to it, making the product virtually free to use, resell, and redistribute. This is certainly the mistaken case with MS-DOS and Windows 9x still being deployed unlicensed (pirated).

Unless Microsoft takes major steps to keep this type of piracy from happening with WinXP, you'll see it being used as the (unlicensed) based for many new systems into the far future.

tiersten

What JD said. It'll hang around for years. People already ignore the updates for various reasons so the lack of official support isn't going to change much for them.

JessicaD

KGhaleon,
Should you require additional assistance and guidance, Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 Support Forum located here Windows 7 IT Pro Category . It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to also check the threads available there for additional assitance and guidance.
Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

astorrs

Claymoore wrote: »

...but the majority of that virtual install base will be in XP Mode / MED-V using Virtual PC...

I'm with Claymoore here, I would expect it to exist in MED-V environments in enterprise environments for a long time. Oh and "Med-V rocks"