When my daughter turned one year old, she got a very soft blanket as a birthday present. She loved that blanket and would take it everywhere with her. She couldn’t/wouldn’t go to sleep at night without it. When she got old enough to talk, she called it her special blanket or “spesh.” Needless to say, after many years of toting that blanket around, it started to wear out – in fact, it started getting downright nasty. She adamantly refused to part with it even though it was just a rag with little redeeming value.
A couple of years ago, Microsoft made the following announcement: “After 12 years, support for Windows XP ended April 8, 2014. There will be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system. It is very important that customers and partners migrate to a modern operating system.”
In the immortal words of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy from Star Trek, “It’s dead Jim!”
Many arguments have been proffered on both sides as to why users should stay with or move away from XP. Windows XP was first introduced in 2001. That makes the operating system 15 years old — an eternity in computer years. The main argument I see for upgrading from XP is that it is impossible to keep up with advances to the .NET framework and remain on the old operating system. By staying with XP, you are missing out on new features and technologies. These features include taking advantage of better hardware integration for improved system performance and being able to use 64-bit applications and memory space.
Since Microsoft no longer supports XP and no longer provides security updates for the OS, staying with XP is a security risk. Any security holes that have been discovered since Microsoft withdrew support have been ruthlessly targeted.
To come full circle, my daughter finally did give up the little rag that she had left of the blanket. I don’t remember what ultimately made her give it up. She is now 18 and a few months ago, we came across that small piece of her special little blanket that we had stored away. The rag brought back good memories, but we were both glad it had been retired. Isn’t it time to do the same with XP?♦
