Well, if not, the operating system is dead to Microsoft, as of today.

XP X-its

Only problem? 20-30% of all PCs still run it. (Forgive the writer below) The BBC reports:

Windows XP users face end to Microsoft support By Mark Ward 7 April 2014

Support for the venerable Windows XP operating system ends this Tuesday.

It means that there will be no more official security updates and bug fixes for the operating system from Microsoft.

Some governments have negotiated extended support contracts for the OS in a bid to keep users protected.

Security firms said anyone else using the 13-year-old software would be at increased risk of infection and compromise by cyber-thieves.

Statistics suggest 20-25% of all users have stuck with XP despite the fact that there have been three major releases of Windows since its debut in 2001.

Some of those existing XP users have struck deals to get security fixes from Microsoft while they complete their migration away from the ageing code.

The UK government has signed a £5.5m deal for extended support. Similarly the Dutch government has signed a “multi-million euro” deal to obtain help for the 40,000 PCs running XP used by the nation’s civil servants.

Anyone currently running Windows XP already faced a disproportionate risk of falling victim to malware, said Dave Emm, a senior research analyst at security firm Kaspersky….

[Or, you can read the seemingly-plagiarized version HERE.(and by plagiarized, I mean word for word, with a little stapled to the end and the clear implication that it was written by the author at the bottom). She may be a “wanna-be writer” but she may well be an honest-to-gosh plagiarist.]

But just for argument’s sake, let’s assume the lower numbers. That’s STILL one in five desktop computers in the damned world! Good Lord.

I don’t know about you, but pissing off and pissing ON that many customers is bound to have an ugly effect.

Early Laptop. (Stone floppy discs not pictured)

Watch for Microsoft to offer some kind of support deal in the next few weeks, as various virus stories, scare stories, etcetera make the media rounds. Simple fact of the matter? Twelve years after its debut, lots of customers and companies DON’T NEED A NEW GODDAMNED OS!

Microsoft is XPosed!

Progress ought not be mandatory.

The greedos at Microsoft may have bit off more
metaphorical cud than they can chew

The ability to set up a stable computer that does what one wants and lets one browse the internet occasionally shouldn’t be a big deal.

Sorry we geezers don’t meet Microsoft’s XPectations. I’m not sure they were that great.

But Microsoft displays the same callousness that’s come to be the hallmark of the Redmond, Washington company, who probably don’t realize that their high handed behavior is contributing to Microsoft’s doom — more rapidly than they realize.

Or, as I have already done with a dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows 7 machine, I have already set the stage to become an XPatriate. My XPosure to Microsoft just can’t be summarized overall as a very pleasant XPerience.

There is a notion in taxation: good will. Spending cash to cultivate the good will of customers. Microsoft accountants don’t need to worry about that.

Which is some consolation, at least.

XP started out a success. Now it’s turning into Vista.

You know how valuable this is.

Oh, and just so’s there’s some value in this for you? XP installed after this date CAN still be activated.

XPerientially, this XPeriment in a stable Windoze (sic) Operating System XPanded and XCeeded XPectations.

Have you ever been XPerienced?

Well, I have.

Courage.

Until they make your last musical 
delivery system obsolete ..

UPDATE – You might want to take a look at this:  Special report: Requiem for Windows XP, from Infoworld.

It’s a sort of “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About XP, past, present and future” ….

But MOST especially this — if not for you, then for someone you know — How to keep your PC secure when Microsoft ends Windows XP support

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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.