Why Firefox 4 isn't abandoning Windows XP

The name-calling begins . Next, XP users will be accused of poisoning the water supply and kidnapping children.

 

Point well taken, I do admit I was speaking of the U.S market. You're right, it is a changed environment, but there are still plenty of huge corporations out there that aren't hurting, crisis or not. In many other countries, it's a matter of pirating and not so much money (India, China and such). You have to look at the security aspect of it too. Windows XP has been pretty much turned to Swiss cheese, and with so very many still using it (and this really affects the corporate world), it doesn't help the issue of malware spreading. Now that isn't me saying if everybody switches to Windows 7, the world will be a better place, that's foolish. But 7 is designed a lot differently from the nature of XP, where programs can go wherever and do whatever they want.

 

1. The cost of Win7 Ultimate (not SP1) + the latest MS Office + a variety of other cracked software goes for about INR 350 (45 INR ~ 1 USD).

2. Since XP is as insecure as we say, evolution will take care of things, won't it? Which is why I wonder at the nearly frantic calls to upgrade. Those using Win 7 will be at an advantage over those with XP and stand to benefit in a competitive environment. So why remove the advantage? Pure altruism?

 

Things outside the US market are much worse (in terms of IT Spending decrease due to the World Economic Crisis).
Another factor is Compatibility:
Many Corp. Clients (e.g. Hospitals, Industrial Plants etc.) are running old Apps that have been very problematic under Windows 7.
As a result, these Corp. Clients decided to stay with XP.

 

I'm sorry, but since when has more botnets and spambots on the Internet been beneficial to anyone?

 

That'll happen regardless of whether XP gets killed off or not. But, "remove the advantage"? The advantage would be getting everybody off of a hole-filled OS. There should be no competing, no pointing and and laughing out "haha hacked!". I don't want to sit here on Windows 7 smugly touting some "competitive advantage", I want less chances for malware to spread its ugly little mug over the internet and on to systems, whether they be in a corporate office or the living room.

 

That's true. It's just a pity some people have to stoop to trying to shame others into not debunking their nonsense by insinuating that those who simply make factual statements do so with some sort of ulterior motive in mind.

 

I thought that was people who run McAfee AV ...

 

Are they capable of doing even that?

 

If they were, no doubt it would be a false-positive LOL!