Windows XP turns 20: Microsoft’s rise and fall points to one thing — don’t fix what isn’t broken

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by guest, Oct 25, 2021.

  1. guest

    guest Guest

    Windows XP turns 20: Microsoft’s rise and fall points to one thing — don’t fix what isn’t broken
    October 24, 2021
    https://theconversation.com/windows...to-one-thing-dont-fix-what-isnt-broken-166493
     
  2. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    Vista flopped because of Apple's extremely effective marketing. I'm a Mac. I'm a PC. Vista sucks...
    The was one great problem with XP. Everyone ran it as admin because most folks didn't have the skills to make standard user accounts work. If XP was just released it would be a security nightmare. I also hated that plastic looking theme but that is a matter of preference, not something actually wrong with it.
     
  3. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    Guess what? I'm still running the Windows XP interface in Windows 11. Its a classic. There's no reason to run anything else.

    XP had an overall cohesive design that still works well today. Its not dead yet!
     
  4. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    Its the best OS Microsoft ever built. It just worked. Even the toy cartoon elements once derided have become beloved. There's something about XP that's like comfort food to people. Its welcoming, warm, fuzzy, familiar and feel good. Twenty years later, all of Microsoft's other Windows versions remain in its shadow.
     
  5. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    It worked because it was easy and unrestricted. No UAC, no Windows Defender, none of the concerns of today inhibiting it's use. It was even faster and smoother if you had the volume license version without the activation components. What was not to like? I could use a cracked uxtheme.dll and load any 3rd party theme I wanted. The fond memories of it only apply in the time frame for which it was usable. I'm certainly not going to argue that it was probably the most liked. But if it were introduced today it would not be usable.
     
  6. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Windows XP 32bit was a popular and busy system that many settled in with for the long term. Then came 64bit computing and things went a little different.
     
  7. aztony

    aztony Registered Member

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    XP! Gone but not forgotten by many of us who cut their Windows eye teeth on it. The king is dead! Long live the king! At least in our memories.
     
  8. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    The author of the article is confusing Windows 7 and Windows 8 so I don't know that I'd take this article too seriously. Xp was much simpler than any later version of Windows and that had both advantages and disadvantages. Unsecured in administrator mode it was a disaster but it was easier and simpler to lock down. There was no UAC so if you didn't have permission to access a file or resource, it simply didn't work. There was no prompt to enter a password to override the security setting, locked meant locked.

    The most annoying thing about Windows to me is that the GUI gets radically changed with every new version. Apple has gone the other direction with MacOS and the UI gets enhanced a bit with each new version but the foundation doesn't change much. No wondering where the start menu went after upgrading. The same can be said for Linux. Once you find the GUI that suits you, Gnome, KDE Plasma, Mate, Cinnamon or any other, it doesn't change radically from one version or distro to another and you can change distros and still keep the same GUI.
     
  9. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    You can do that with Classic/Open Shell. I always revert to the classic start menu. If it ain't broke, don't fix it,.
     
  10. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    idd, XP was security desaster at least, although it was simple to use. My oldest single core is still fitted with it, but i dont use it, there exist no reason to limit myself. Win7 was the successor but also dead (without paid ESU). too bad, but thats way of life.

    The Luna Themes were crap, i used stardock to create my theme or alter other themes, it made some work which i never revived with win7, same: no reason. but i am running anytime a classic windows menu which is ofc some more convenient and faster that the painful tiles. something survived and was adopted. :thumb:
     
  11. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Vista failed because it was pants.
     
  12. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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  13. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    Vista failed because Apple told you it sucked and you believed them. In general. Not specifically just you. You don't have that much influence. :p
     
  14. nicolaasjan

    nicolaasjan Registered Member

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  15. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    I wish Microsoft had not killed Virtual PC. I had images of Windows 3.11 through Vista. Can't run them, Can't convert them to VMware. Can't recreate them now. :(
     
  16. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    XP offered the ultimate in safety, security and privacy :D

    WinXP.png
     
  17. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Apple didn't tell me anything. I just bought a laptop with Vista and regretted it. I thought it looked nice though.
     
  18. Surt

    Surt Registered Member

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    It was Madonna's "Ray of Light," that I knew XP was for me.
     
  19. Trooper

    Trooper Registered Member

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    Love it! :argh:
     
  20. BoerenkoolMetWorst

    BoerenkoolMetWorst Registered Member

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    Windows 7 was a lot better than XP for me, far less crashes and BSOD's.
     
  21. nicolaasjan

    nicolaasjan Registered Member

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    Maybe you can find a hint here:
    https://superuser.com/questions/412...s-virtual-pc-to-virtualbox-without-formatting
    (for Virtualbox)

    Especially:
     
  22. Victek

    Victek Registered Member

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    Agreed. People hated Vista because they were used to the freedom of Admin accounts. Limited User accounts and UAC were absolutely necessary, but painful to initially implement. It also seemed like many PCs that came with Vista preinstalled were underpowered and ran the OS poorly. IOW Vista seemed like a step backwards. Fortunately Windows 7 ran a lot better and was perceived in a positive light :thumb:
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2021
  23. Sampei Nihira

    Sampei Nihira Registered Member

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    With XP there was the mass spread of home PCs with modern hardware features.
    This was the biggest benefit.
     
  24. reasonablePrivacy

    reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

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    Exactly. There were Windows Vista Capable vs Windows Vista Premium Ready certifications. First tells that PC may run Vista, but may not be the best experience i.e. GPU may be not be capable to accelerate Aero with all its GUI features.
    In my country circa 2007-2010 era popularized netbooks - very small laptops that had too little processing power to run Vista. That may be a local thing though.
    Lastly there were too many different Vista versions.
     
  25. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I never used Win 7, but Win XP was pretty good, it served me well. Of course in terms of security it was pretty much a joke. And it became unstable because it didn't have PatchGuard, which prevents security tools from messing around with the OS kernel. I currently run 4 realtime security tools on Win 8 and 10, but they remain stable, on Win XP there was a big chance it would crash once in a while.
     
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