Windows XP Support to End on April 8; ATMs at Risk

[lancar]

Just off the top of my head, I remember two businesses I've worked at or visited a few years back. Both had a computer with DOS 6.22, one running printer software and the other running some ancient CNC program database.

Those two machines are rather ancient by todays standards, but they were still fit for purpose so I wouldn't at all be surprised if they were still using them today. In fact, many (most?) old factory machining equipment simply cannot work together with modern operating systems because nobody has written new drivers for them.

I can see the point with the ATMs, of course. Those things kinda need to have top-of-the-line security to prevent haxxoring, but I seriously doubt this will be an issue for us normal folks who use XP for older machines.

If you're using it out of habit on your gaming rig, however... You probably should've made the switch already.

 

[Strazdas]

ATMs use Xp here as well, i saw them crash and restart actually (not to mention when i saw people fixing them later in standart XP interface). so i guess whoel world is in the same boat here.
I got XP at work here too, and they recently "upgraded it", thought mostly rolled back to older version actually. i got no administration proviledges here and no idea what they plan to do, probably nothing, thought our system here is a mix of all kind of OS from XP to 8. it seems that they upgrade it one by one eventually. i hope im going to end up with 7 in the end, i dont like 8 at all.

[I don't know if M$ is gonna even sell Win 7 to any businesses besides OEMs for new machines in the near future. I can't even find a like on M$.com to buy Win 7 retail.

thats because microsoft no longer officially sell win 7, because hurr durr how dare you buy superior 7 instead of 8.

And this is exactly why a consumer OS should not be used for something so important. THey should be using something made from the ground up or using something proven to be secure that is not going to " go out of support" like open BSD that is secure by default , unlike XP that is not that secure ( don't get me wrong it is not bad considering how old it it but still).

there is no software ever created that does not go out of support. Nor is there anything that is secure by default. your asking the impossible. at best they could create their own OS that would be much harder to crash due not being like others, but whos going to afford that?

Honestly, its about freaking time.

as a person who still thinks XP was the best OS to come from microsoft i got to say no, its not.

sata and USB 3.0

well there is a SATA driver that can launch before XP install and install with it and that seems to be a nonissue from my experience. USB 3.0 would be hard on XP but its not that widely used now, onyl recently we started seeing prebuilt PCs with USB 3.0 ports, so it will take a few years till it will be in daily usage.

snip

would ugprading to windows 7 be an option? the interface is almost identical and it will run all of their usual applications, so it wouldnt be that hard to reteach them there.

What amazes me most is that the companies haven't prepared even though microsoft revealed it's plans to sack support for twindows xp way back in 2008. They had 6 years to upgrade. Bloody incompetent fools and of course it's going to be microsofts fault.

your meant to say companies only look at short term and forget long term planning? who would have thought....

Look. Microsoft. All you need to do is let people pay you a reasonable amount every year, say £30 like an Xbox live subscription per license and those businesses/ individuals who still want to use XP will keep you well supported.

Upgrading ATM machines would be a MASSIVE pain for the banking industry and might discourage them from ever running a windows product on them again. If costs are not TOO prohibitive I'm sure most people will be happy to take out some kind of security subscription.

according to our local banks, a single ATM costs around 500.000 LTL in upkeep (~200.000 USD) per year. thats for 1 machine. so a 30 extra fee wouldnt be that big of a deal, this plan could work. or, you know, a 200 dollar fee for new OS.

In fact, many (most?) old factory machining equipment simply cannot work together with modern operating systems because nobody has written new drivers for them.

i can attest to that whe i had to upgrade a machine from windows 8 to windows 7 because the hardware that it was connecting to didnt understand what is win 8. the machine in question is electrical boxes, you know, the ones that you see standing beside supermarkets providing them power ect.

 

[webkilla]

Snip - on question about government computers just upgrading to Win7

Win7 is on the chopping block next.

I doubt it'll last ten years - Microsoft simply wont allow such potential for income via basically forcing upgrades at regular intervals down our throats to not happen.

I just hope - for the same of IT departments everywhere - that Win9 comes with a 'non-touch' version for simple, traditional office use. You really don't need a touchscreen for processing government forms or managing building schematics in autocad.