{"id":50,"date":"2008-03-26T00:01:31","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T07:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/26\/windows-xps-life-cycle\/"},"modified":"2008-04-04T09:33:55","modified_gmt":"2008-04-04T16:33:55","slug":"windows-xps-life-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=50","title":{"rendered":"Windows XP’s Life Cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in my 20s I thought a Life Cycle<\/em> was one of those stationary bicycles I sweated on at the gym. Indeed, the clever manufacturer had named them “Life Cycle.” But in software development, a life cycle<\/em> is a product’s usable lifespan. A product is born or introduced, used, then eventually it fades away as a replacement or update comes along.
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\nAccording to Microsoft, the life cycle for Windows XP is drawing nigh. After June of this year you will not be able to buy a Windows XP computer.<\/p>\n

It’s been a good life for XP. Presently Windows XP is the most popular computer operating system on planet Earth. But XP is old<\/em> in computer terms. It was introduced in 2001. While being 7 years old may be young for a human, or middle aged for a dog, it’s ancient in computer terms.<\/p>\n

Technology is always changing, especially with computers. Bill Gates was correct when he said that software never becomes obsolete. I would augment that to say that while technology never becomes obsolete, it doesn’t discount that newer technology is better.<\/p>\n

For example, we could still move large objects by rolling them on a series of logs. That process works, but we have better ways to move large things. Another example: You can still make a phone call using pulses or a dial phone. It works, but touch tone is better. And while a car from the 1950s would run today, it would pollute like nothing you’ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Windows XP still works and serves legions of people well. But even if you decide to never upgrade, you must suffer through Microsoft’s product life cycle. Here are the details:<\/p>\n

June 30, 2008.<\/strong> Microsoft will stop providing Windows XP to computer manufacturers. (This timeframe has already been extended from its original date.)<\/p>\n

January 32<\/del> 31, 2009.<\/strong> At this date, Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP to you, me, or anyone.<\/p>\n

April 14, 2009.<\/strong> Microsoft will discontinue “live” Windows XP support. No more phone calls. Also, no more updates unless they’re security related.<\/p>\n

April 8, 2014.<\/strong> No more support for Windows XP. Period.<\/p>\n

Don’t let such seemingly bad news stew you: Next month Microsoft is releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). So they must still care, right?<\/p>\n

Honestly, XP has had an impressive life cycle. While I enjoy using Windows Vista, and recommend it, I believe that many XP users will hold out for Windows 7<\/em> instead of updating to Vista \u2014 if they can. After all, your PC has a life cycle, too. Consider yourself lucky if your PC lasts the same 7 years that XP has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in my 20s I thought a Life Cycle was one of those stationary bicycles I sweated on at the gym. Indeed, the clever manufacturer had named them “Life Cycle.” But in software development, a life cycle is a product’s usable lifespan. A product is born or introduced, used, then eventually it fades away as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}