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daveinpoway
Premium Member
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA

2 recommendations

daveinpoway

Premium Member

XP's retirement will be hacker heaven

"Computerworld - Cyber criminals will bank their Windows XP zero-day vulnerabilities until after Microsoft stops patching the aged operating system next April, a security expert argued today.":

»www.computerworld.com/s/ ··· 13-08-13

At least in my opinion, if Microsoft will develop patches for companies that pay high fees for custom support, they could release them to the rest of us (since the work has already been done).

EGeezer
Premium Member
join:2002-08-04
Midwest

1 edit

1 recommendation

EGeezer

Premium Member

Danger=opportunity

Opportunity for Linux;

Those XP machines that don't have the memory or processor capability for WIN7 or WIN8 will still be useful, as well as providing an expanded user base of those who find the migration too expensive.

Plans are afoot to have Munich's city government distribute 2,000 Lubuntu installation CDs to users with older Windows PCs, after Microsoft stops releasing security updates for Windows XP next year.

... the move will help avoid the creation of electronic waste, since many older computers currently running Windows XP will be unable to handle the demands of Windows 7 or 8. ...

Source article;
»www.networkworld.com/new ··· 199.html

I have a couple of customers who use XP systems for Karaoke music and video recording and editing.

I've advised them to take the systems offline after the XP sunset and use other systems to download application updates.

I'll probably do the same for my photo editing PCs and load a Linux distro for email and internet. I can always upgrade/patch applications VIA sneakernet.
OZO
Premium Member
join:2003-01-17

2 recommendations

OZO to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway

Re: XP's retirement will be hacker heaven

Nothing will happen "after Microsoft stops patching the aged operating system next April".

Remember y2k bug? The apocalypse. The end of computer's world as we know it... Similar is now. But this time it's a marketing driven hype to push customers to new sells... Yeah, by their business plan we have to believe that the old and pretty stable OS after long time of constant fixing and patching suddenly will become a "hacker heaven"... It's rather quite an opposite and WXP is not going to be less secure in any way than it is now.

I agree that "Opportunity for Linux" could become the word due to this promoted by some opinion...

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

Link Logger to EGeezer

MVM

to EGeezer

Re: Danger=opportunity

said by EGeezer:

Opportunity for Linux;

I'm pretty sure someone said the same thing when Microsoft retired Windows 95.

Windows XP usage has been dropping rather nicely (I'm all for retiring old systems).

»gs.statcounter.com/#os-w ··· 7-201308

In the US its down to 12.5% and Canada even less, so if you have clients who are still on XP the tour has left, time to catch up as really Windows 7 and 8 are much better but it was a beautiful day in 2001 when XP was released, but just like we have moved on from U2's Beautiful Day, its time to move on from XP.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· WMzDOh1o


Blake
Fickey
Terrorists target your backbone
join:2004-05-31

1 recommendation

Fickey to daveinpoway

Member

to daveinpoway

Re: XP's retirement will be hacker heaven

There's folks who still backport patches for Windows 2000, I presume something similar could be done for XP?
»www.msfn.org/board/topic ··· patches/

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

1 recommendation

StuartMW to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
Haven't we discussed this ad-nauseum?

»Windows XP: Remove the Cable, Tape Up the Ethernet Port
OZO
Premium Member
join:2003-01-17

OZO

Premium Member

Yes indeed, we have. But how can one stop marketing from pitching for a new product? It's like stopping a spam. Try to tell them - "Stop bothering me, I've already got it"
Nanaki (banned)
aka novaflare. pull punches? Na
join:2002-01-24
Akron, OH

Nanaki (banned) to OZO

Member

to OZO
said by OZO:

Nothing will happen "after Microsoft stops patching the aged operating system next April".

Remember y2k bug? The apocalypse. The end of computer's world as we know it... Similar is now. But this time it's a marketing driven hype to push customers to new sells... Yeah, by their business plan we have to believe that the old and pretty stable OS after long time of constant fixing and patching suddenly will become a "hacker heaven"... It's rather quite an opposite and WXP is not going to be less secure in any way than it is now.

I agree that "Opportunity for Linux" could become the word due to this promoted by some opinion...

The y2k bug was mostly marketing hype as well. All the date time errors were as it turned out harmless. Many were funny tv weather forecasts etc showing weird and wild dates like 14400 3600 etc. Any one who really knew about what could feasibly happen knew no nukes would fire off and end the world. Mostly name brand computer companies used the y2k bug to bump up sales of new machines most used the very same bios as the ones they said were likely to have problems. As for xp to 7 or 8 migration being expensive. It really isn't.
Ive seen older xp machines run win 7 fine. It takes about 2 to 4 gb ram to run 7 with any 64 bit cpu. On a 32 bit cpu it is about the same maybe more ram. Sense most skipped or downgraded from vista well many capable machines out there for 7.

ashrc4
Premium Member
join:2009-02-06
australia

ashrc4

Premium Member

said by Nanaki:

Ive seen older xp machines run win 7 fine. It takes about 2 to 4 gb ram to run 7 with any 64 bit cpu. On a 32 bit cpu it is about the same maybe more ram. Sense most skipped or downgraded from vista well many capable machines out there for 7.

People still needing xp for software can look at vitualization from a few platforms too.

GlennLouEarl
3 brothers, 1 gone
Premium Member
join:2002-11-17
Richmond, VA

GlennLouEarl to OZO

Premium Member

to OZO
said by OZO:

Remember y2k bug?

I remember the decade and more that I and my coworkers and other thousands of IT workers put in with millions of man-hours and lines of new and updated code prior to "Y2K" so that no major "bugs" would blow everything to hell.

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

1 recommendation

StuartMW

Premium Member

quote:
Some COBOL programmer got seriously sick so they froze his body. When they thawed him out, there was a lot of commotion. Apparently they needed this guy back alive and kicking pronto. It was nearing the year 3000. And they were encountering all kinds of Y3K bugs. It seems the Y2K coders only did a patch job 1000 years in the past.

GlennLouEarl
3 brothers, 1 gone
Premium Member
join:2002-11-17
Richmond, VA

GlennLouEarl

Premium Member

Unfortunately, they couldn't find any COBOL programs--or compilers--for him to work on. (And, actually, the "bug" won't reappear till Y10K. )
AsherN
Premium Member
join:2010-08-23
Thornhill, ON

AsherN to GlennLouEarl

Premium Member

to GlennLouEarl
said by GlennLouEarl:

said by OZO:

Remember y2k bug?

I remember the decade and more that I and my coworkers and other thousands of IT workers put in with millions of man-hours and lines of new and updated code prior to "Y2K" so that no major "bugs" would blow everything to hell.

^^^^ This.

That was a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario.

IT is being ridiculed because we did something and nothing happened. Had we done nothing, we'd be blamed.

Would nukes have fired or planes fallen out of the sky? likely not. But businesses would have been severely impacted. Financial institutions especially so.
Zee5tH98
join:2005-09-08

Zee5tH98 to daveinpoway

Member

to daveinpoway
I have already updated a Vista machine to Windows 7 Home Premium, because Vista had too many problems. I have a PC I will update too. Just a question I see the stores Staples,Office Max etc... are offering a Chrome Laptop.Is that able to use Flash and Java and browsers and the other utilities XP can use?
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada
MikroTik RB450G
Cisco DPC3008
Cisco SPA112

1 edit

2 recommendations

TheMG to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
I still have 3 computers running XP that I use for my electronics/radio hobbies. I'm not likely to change the OS anytime soon for two main reasons:

1) Some of the software that I use doesn't work well or at all on newer OS.

2) The machines in question are too slow to run Windows 7/8, and then virtualize XP. Linux would work, but again, running virtualization on top of that, is going to be too slow.

Upgrade the machines? I'm cheap. Why would I go out and buy newer hardware if the existing hardware does what I need it to do just fine with XP? I also don't want to contribute to the E-waste problem any more than I absolutely need to.

Anyways, XP machines aren't suddenly going to become infected just sitting there connected to the internet. Remember that the primary means by which a machine becomes infected is through the web browser. Run an up to date fully patched web browser, avoid things like Java, be cautious what you download, and you'll most likely be fine.

LazMan
Premium Member
join:2003-03-26
Beverly Hills, CA

LazMan to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
Lots of large enterprises are still running XP, even on modern hardware, for security reasons...

One company I work with has about 18,000 PC's (laptops and desktops) in the field; and around half are still running XP; as getting all the VPN, security apps, and vendor specific applications ported to Win7 (skipped Vista altogether) and setup properly, is a minor nightmare... They've only started rolling out Win7 in the last year or so, and will be upgrading the rest as hardware rolls over.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

1 recommendation

sivran to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
I plan to...not worry at all about XP EOL. I have two remaining XP machines in my care: my dad's desktop and my (personal) laptop. Both are protected from remote exploit by multiple layers including router, firewall, and highly-effective adblocking, and neither sees all that much use anyway.

My laptop is getting on in years and it has a flaky connection in the hinge, so it's due for retirement anyway. Maybe if the screen goes I'll slap linux on it, stick it in the closet, and use it to replace my current (even older) headless linux box.

As for my dad's desktop, well I'll just run it until hardware failure kills it or one of us just can't stand it anymore. Then I'll get him a cheap laptop.

goalieskates
Premium Member
join:2004-09-12
land of big

1 recommendation

goalieskates to OZO

Premium Member

to OZO
said by OZO:

But how can one stop marketing from pitching for a new product? It's like stopping a spam.

And that's what this is - spam.

It gets old.
AsherN
Premium Member
join:2010-08-23
Thornhill, ON

AsherN

Premium Member

I have a hard time picturing a bunch of hackers and scammers sitting on a bunch of exploits for another year for an OS with a shrinking market in the hopes the whatever hole they coded for does not get patched.
psloss
Premium Member
join:2002-02-24

psloss

Premium Member

said by AsherN:

I have a hard time picturing a bunch of hackers and scammers sitting on a bunch of exploits for another year for an OS with a shrinking market in the hopes the whatever hole they coded for does not get patched.

There are several different types of attacks and one of these exploits wouldn't be used indiscriminately. If a bad guy is just trying to compromise a lowest common denominator audience, an exploit is over-thinking the problem; it's much cheaper and easier to just instruct the user to run his malware. (There's also no need to wait to do that and those indiscriminate attacks go on just about all-day, everyday now.)

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
XP Z: Microsoft scares Windows XP users straight with undead bug warning
»www.computerworld.com/s/ ··· _warning

»twitter.com/gkeizer/stat ··· 52587776


Related: Blaster Worm celebrates tenth birthday
OZO
Premium Member
join:2003-01-17

1 recommendation

OZO

Premium Member

said by Computerworld :

Microsoft yesterday warned Windows XP customers that they face never-patched, never-dead "zero-day" vulnerabilities if they don't dump the 12-year-old operating system before its April 2014 retirement deadline.

What we see here is a perpetuate problem with any for-profit-made products, including OS's. Phase 1: to make profit manufacturer has to convince potential customers how wonderful the new OS is (it's always "better then ever"). Phase 2: in order to make new profits from new OS, they have to run a campaign to denigrate the old OS and convince users to leave it behind. Then the circle is repeated again and again...

Looking at that picture, don't you feel yourself as a dumb consumer (as they always think of you), driven by those marketers?

If you do, I think it's time to move on in direction of free OS's. Even if they could be less secure (which is doubtful), at least you'll be free from those fear mongering campaigns, driven by profit makers...

ashrc4
Premium Member
join:2009-02-06
australia

ashrc4 to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
Another option for people that can't virtulize could include Deep freeze.
I'd mention steady state but that was stopped by Ms?

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
The Risk of Running Windows XP After Support Ends April 2014
quote:
Back in April I published a post about the end of support for Windows XP called The Countdown Begins: Support for Windows XP Ends on April 8, 2014. Since then, many of the customers I have talked to have moved, or are in the process of moving, their organizations from Windows XP to modern operating systems like Windows 7 or Windows 8.

There is a sense of urgency because after April 8, Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) customers will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates. This means that any new vulnerabilities discovered in Windows XP after its “end of life” will not be addressed by new security updates from Microsoft. Still, I have talked to some customers who, for one reason or another, will not have completely migrated from Windows XP before April 8. I have even talked to some customers that say they won’t migrate from Windows XP until the hardware it’s running on fails.
»blogs.technet.com/b/secu ··· nds.aspx
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway
Ho-hum. I still run XP Pro SP2 on my older Windows machine. It hasn't had any patches since mid 2010 I think and it has IE6 too. It's never been infected. It has ProcessGuard full version as well as the Proxomitron.

It all comes back to one thing and one thing only: is the user educated in regards to security and do they practice good security?

I detest having to upgrade Windows on a machine. That is why I did not upgrade XP from SP2 that came on the machine to SP3. I tried SP3 on a virtual machine and didn't think it near worth the hassle to upgrade the host machine.

DownTheShore
Pray for Ukraine
Premium Member
join:2003-12-02
Beautiful NJ

DownTheShore to OZO

Premium Member

to OZO
said by OZO:

What we see here is a perpetuate problem with any for-profit-made products, including OS's. Phase 1: to make profit manufacturer has to convince potential customers how wonderful the new OS is (it's always "better then ever"). Phase 2: in order to make new profits from new OS, they have to run a campaign to denigrate the old OS and convince users to leave it behind. Then the circle is repeated again and again...

A slight digression but apropos to the topic:
I was watching one of those mascara ads on TV the other day,which was touting that it would create the longest lashes ever. Now, I've been seeing that same claim from cosmetic companies since I first started paying attention to those ads in my teen years. If they were all actually true, by now with each incremental improvement, use of those products should extend the length of eyelashes down to about the chin.

It's the same with OSes. If we believed all the hype, our current OS should allow us, by now, to rule the world.
Velnias
join:2004-07-06
233322

Velnias

Member

GATES: True, true...

jeisenberg
New Year's Eve
join:2001-07-06
Windsor, ON

1 edit

1 recommendation

jeisenberg to GlennLouEarl

Member

to GlennLouEarl
I had a comment, but it was already posted by someone else, so I've deleted mine.

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

1 recommendation

Link Logger to OZO

MVM

to OZO
said by OZO:

said by Computerworld :

Microsoft yesterday warned Windows XP customers that they face never-patched, never-dead "zero-day" vulnerabilities if they don't dump the 12-year-old operating system before its April 2014 retirement deadline.

What we see here is a perpetuate problem with any for-profit-made products, including OS's. Phase 1: to make profit manufacturer has to convince potential customers how wonderful the new OS is (it's always "better then ever"). Phase 2: in order to make new profits from new OS, they have to run a campaign to denigrate the old OS and convince users to leave it behind. Then the circle is repeated again and again...

Looking at that picture, don't you feel yourself as a dumb consumer (as they always think of you), driven by those marketers?

If you do, I think it's time to move on in direction of free OS's. Even if they could be less secure (which is doubtful), at least you'll be free from those fear mongering campaigns, driven by profit makers...

Seriously you don't think that Windows 7 is better then Windows XP? What about Linux Kernel 1.0.0, better or worse then 3.10? I7 better then a 80286 or not?

Blake
OZO
Premium Member
join:2003-01-17

1 recommendation

OZO

Premium Member

If seriously, there are two completely different ideas behind the development of those two OS's (Windows and Linux). One is to make money and do it again and again. And another - do it the best, without pressure to generate money each and every day coming. Those different ideas lead to completely different strategies in development. It's just basics in market based economy...