Don't give in to Microsoft. There are alternatives

John259

prowla wrote: »

So, there are three better options than Windows 8 for replacing XP

Four, for those people who reckon Chromebooks meet their needs (but that's not everyone, of course).

prowla

Alternatives to XP...

Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu is a perfectly viable OS, and unless you need 100% Microsoft Office compatibility in documents and actions (ie. each menu option) then OpenOffice/LibreOffice will be fine.

You can get a "live" DVD of Ubuntu, which will allow you to run it from there without installing. These live discs can be a bit slow though.

Other Linuxes

My opinion is that the other Linux releases (SuSE, CentOS, Red Hat, Oracle Linux, Mint, etc.) are not as end-user orientated and friendly as Ubuntu.

Solaris

Solaris is a real UNIX, and Oracle (who bought Sun, its originator) have really put a Linux style front-end on it and include OpenOffice (Oracle own the product, so the "Open" is in quotes!).

However, I probably wouldn't recommend it as a general purpose end-user desktop, in all honesty, and it can be a bit quirky (eg. it doesn't power off my Dell PC when I shut it down).

Apple Mac

I've just switched to a Mac as my main system, and it took a couple of "why did they do it that way?" moments, but now I get it. And of course, the Mac's OS X is much nicer and has a more quality feel than any Microsoft Windows.

It's also worth noting that going from Windows 7 to Mac is easier than from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

And finally, Microsoft Office is available for the Mac. (Indeed, Microsoft Office was first released on the Mac back in the 80s, before Windows even existed!)

The downside of OS X is that, though the OS itself is free, it won't run on your old PC and so you need to buy an Apple Mac. (Let's not get into Hackintoshes here - that is real propeller head stuff!).

Windows 7

Windows 7 is Microsoft's best desktop OS; everything it does is better than the previous versions (Vista, XP, 95, ME, 2000, etc.), and the current release (ie. 8, 8.1).

It is still supported.

Windows 8

I don't "get" Windows 8 at all.Microsoft just plain got it wrong; it's a clumsy mish-mash of a phone front-end onto a desktop system.

Microsoft took out the "Start" menu, and many claim that putting in a 3rd party replacement (eg. Classic Shell) turns Windows 8 back into Windows 7, but that's not the whole story. They did re-introduce some of the Start menu features in 8.1, but kindof missed the point.

Microsoft also took out some eye-candy which I like (ie. the "glass" effect window borders of Windows 7, but curiously left it in for the task bar), and also (mostly) did away with 3-D and texture effects which enhance the user interface, in favour of flat 2-tone styling. You also get strange artifacts of the phone/tablet touch screen interface in your face, including occasional "tap here" dialogs and a "charm" bar which swooshes in from the right in a rather uncharming and garish manner.

There's also the horrendous moves by some vendors to include touch screens on desktop computers, which is extremely bad ergonomics.

Windows XP

Windows XP is not dead, and the decision to discontinue public support is pure marketing.

A number of businesses and governments are continuing to use XP, and are paying Microsoft for extended support. Presumably that extended support includes updates (including security), and to a fairly stringent level, so the only thing is that Microsoft have decided not to make them generally available.

It's also worth noting that Microsoft's end of support doesn't mean that XP will no longer work; one option is to install a 3rd party antivirus product on XP and continuing to use it.

Tablets

Either the iPad or other tablets are perfectly viable for surfing the net and doing email; if that's all that's you do, then the question "do I need a PC?" is a valid one to ask yourself.

Given the availability of "Cloud" based services (including Microsoft Office live for free), and storage, it may be that a tablet will fit the bill. But you have to be comfortable with storing your documents/photos/content on somebody else's computers and only being able to get at it if you have an Internet connection.

Summary

So, there are several options and at least three better choices than Windows 8 for replacing XP:

1. Windows 7 (costs, but will run most of your XP programs).
2. Ubuntu Linux (free).
3. Apple Mac (needs a Mac to run on).

RumRat

I think you forgot to put that your summary, in fact most of the post, was merely your opinion. Which, you are perfectly entitled to, but not the view of everyone..:)

KxMx

I replaced the an old XP PC with a Win 8 machine at the weekend and couldn't be happier with it.

Once you strip down the metro, sort out your desktop short cuts etc it's really just a case of learning the navigation which isn't so dissimilar to XP in desktop mode, where you can spend the majority of your time.

I haven't updated to 8.1 because there wasn't anything to tempt me but I think the imminent further update looks very worthwhile and will add many things back in which will make it even easier to use.

I have my annoyances with it, and think it was really stupid to release an OS for both touch and non-touch, but overall I simply can't understand the fuss some make towards it

Enterprise_1701C

We had a warning on our computer that they are going to stop support of XP. What really annoyed me was that they were going to stop updates to the Security Essentials we had alongside it.

What did we do? Changed antivirus and we will ignore the suggestions that we should go out and buy another copy of Windows (which the computer could not run) or upgrade the computer.

All we need is an OS that works. It is not magically going to stop working just because they are not supporting it, it just won't get any updates. It does what we want it to do.

prowla

RumRat wrote: »

I think you forgot to put that your summary, in fact most of the post, was merely your opinion. Which, you are perfectly entitled to, but not the view of everyone..:)

Of course it is my opinion (I even said so at one point).

(And of course, my opinion is usually right.)

prowla

KxMx wrote: »

I replaced the an old XP PC with a Win 8 machine at the weekend and couldn't be happier with it.

Once you strip down the metro, sort out your desktop short cuts etc it's really just a case of learning the navigation which isn't so dissimilar to XP in desktop mode, where you can spend the majority of your time.

I haven't updated to 8.1 because there wasn't anything to tempt me but I think the imminent further update looks very worthwhile and will add many things back in which will make it even easier to use.

I have my annoyances with it, and think it was really stupid to release an OS for both touch and non-touch, but overall I simply can't understand the fuss some make towards it

Couldn't be happier ... had to strip out some stuff ... add many things back ... have annoyances.

Now call me pedantic, but I reckon that means you could be happier with it.

Mr_Toad

cookie365 wrote: »

Linux is only free if your time and patience has no value

As for Apple stuff 'just working' - only if you want it to do a very limited set of things that Apple deems appropriate. Anything beyond that and it 'just doesn't work'.

What is it you think you can't do on a Mac?

parcival

At the end of the day it's just about everyone's opinion.


In my view Ubuntu is very easy to install and very easy to maintain. I agree it takes a little bit of getting use to but for most people it will be straightforward if a little different from Microsoft.


IMO it takes a lot less looking after than Windows. The updates are much simpler to install and it's more secure.


I am an average computer user and have found nothing in Ubuntu that I could not do with Windows.


Finally, it runs very fast on my very old Toshiba laptop and is not resource hungry. So if you have XP on a machine that is not upto Win 7 or 8 and do not want to buy a new machine it could be the way to go....

hansi

RumRat wrote: »

It's not the job of Microsoft to advertise alternatives to their products. Far from scaremongering, they have informed everyone, with plenty of time for them to change to a more secure product, that they would no longer support the past it's sell by date OS.
It is totally beyond me why anyone would want to cling on to something as old as XP anyway, but, now that it's support is finishing, it's madness.

They stick to it because basically, it works:T so if it ain't broke,don't fix it. XP has been an excellent system.