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New York, 2:14 PM
Fri Dec 18
70 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of spcomputing spcomputing
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP

    Reason #8: You'll have to peel this sticker off our computer. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Xeno promoted this comment spcomputing was starred spcomputing was unstarred
    Image of Xeno Xeno
    10/23/09

    @spcomputing: Upgrading magically adds a sticker to your computer? #windowsxp
     Reply
    Xeno was starred Xeno was unstarred
    Image of Monty Monty
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    Nice article, Adam, and something for people who do not have their own personal tech support sitting around. However, those of us living in the land of Giz tend to be geeks and used to backing up data, wiping hard drives and re-installing everything. We do this regularly for friends and family on a weekly basis, I am afraid. Doing this one more time to get them to Windows 7, which may cut down the re-build process to every other week, would be a huge benefit to most of us. That alone sort of negates this list - for the geeks, at least. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Monty was starred Monty was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    8. XP doesn't require pornographic amounts of RAM or hard disk space.

    i run an anemic old dell laptop. 16GB for OS install on a 30GB HDD will not fly, not to mention the insufficient 512MB of RAM. The cost of upgrading components and buying W7 would meet or exceed the cost of a new laptop with better components and W7 already installed.

    9. There's no TinyW7 yet. Wait for cruft removal. #windowsxp
     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    10/25/09

    @nutbastard: ... Ooookay, I have to say a few things here.

    1. Your computer doesn't meet the minimum system requirements for Windows 7 by a long shot. That is the -only- reason you shouldn't be upgrading.

    2. Tiny[windows version here] installs are the worst thing ever. They skim off extra space by removing services that they claim aren't important or affect performance. They are a technician nightmare and generally terrible for your PC. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of dancnpete dancnpete
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    after years of playing around with different linux distros, and a strict regimen of re-installing xp every 8 months or so just to feng shui by desktop, I've discovered a few things: 1) I don't use that many programs so reinstalling all of them doesn't really take that long,
    2) if you put your OS on it's own partition, programs on another, and, data on a third, 99% of ALL upgrading issues vanish #windowsxp
     Reply
    nutbastard approved this comment dancnpete was starred dancnpete was unstarred
    Image of SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!! SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!!
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    1. Most users do backups and make a fresh install. You are just being lazy there.

    2. I never seen anyone who just lost its CD-key, unless if this someone is a sloppy one.
    "Do you have all of your install discs handy?". Seriously Frocci, do you throw away your disks after install them?
    And the downloadable exes will be with your backup.

    3. Thats debatable. Not everyone here uses the PC like our mothers...some of us (me for example) do Photoshop, Video Editing, 3D modeling and gaming.

    4. No arguing on that one.

    5. I agree that being an early adopter is risky, but is not a real reason to stick with XP.

    6. Still not a real reason to stick with XP. Its just a reason to not be an early adopter.

    7. Not always you have a pre installed copy of windows on your new PC. If you are a hardcore PC user, you will build your own PC instead of buying a Dell.
    And since when installing an OS is risky? I never heard of anyone who fried his PC over an OS installation. #windowsxp
     Reply
    SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!! was starred SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!! was unstarred
    Image of madog madog
    10/23/09

    @SewerShark: Inconceivable!

    1. Hardly any average user performs proper backups. $100 says you could call 100 random people in the phone book and more than 50% will not know what you are talking about or don't do one.

    2. People never store their stuff properly, and somehow lose CD Keys that were printed on their computer.

    3. Students, parents, and (most)women, make up more computer users than males who do heavy work and play video games.

    7. Yes installing an OS can be risky, as pointed out by the other reasons in the article. No one said it could fry a machine.

    Gizmodo isn't only catered to the hardcore nerds who do all of these things.... as somewhat apparent from the article. It also exists for the sluts and perverts as seen by some articles last week.

    @Odin, @SewerShark: go tell your mom or dad, or best friends, or your boss at work that they are lazy and cheap and worthless. I'm sure they all don't run backups.

    It isn't too difficult to do do it these days, but many people just don't know. Also, they obviously all run Windows and don't have an easy to use solution for backing up software to an external drive...

    ...BAM! #windowsxp
     Reply
    madog was starred madog was unstarred
    Image of SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!! SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!!
    10/23/09

    @madog:
    1. The average user usually don't even know how to install an OS and ask for someone who knows.

    2. As I said, people are careless. No excuses there.

    3. Yeah, but I never said that ALL users do heavy work. I said that #3 was DEBATABLE.

    7. The only risk on installing an OS is that you may have to do it again. And that is true to any OS.

    @bobman1235:

    I'm a foreigner, so what? Sue me for improper use of the english language.

    @Kaisum: Just because is a lot, it means it is ok?

    @ALL: People, if you don't take care of your stuff, you are sloppy, the truth hurts, but is still the truth. Don't blame an OS if you don't do backups or lost your CD keys. #windowsxp
     Reply
    SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!! was starred SewerShark: LOOK BEHIND YOU, A THREE HEADED MONKEY!!! was unstarred
    Image of Odin Odin
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    Most of those reasons boil down to being lazy or cheap. Being lazy and cheap are perfectly valid reasons though. Unless you're running Vista in which case you should just upgrade to stop yourself feeling stupid for installing Vista in the first place.

    Fun story: Me and my housemate last year used to rip our other housemate for running Vista and used to blame everything that went wrong with his PC on his choice of OS. He'd of course defend it because if he didn't he'd feel the fool for admitting that he installed a pile of ass. He recently installed Win7 and grudgingly admitted that it fixed all the problems he had with his computer.

    As for me I'm still running XP and will be until I get a new machine. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Odin was starred Odin was unstarred
    Image of MaQ MaQ
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    Some Advice:

    When i moved to linux, I bought a new hard drive and took out the old one with XP on it.

    Why?

    Because it is cheaper for me to get a new drive than lose a system that is working.

    OS and all the software on it is your workshop
    and why throw a way a good wrench ? #windowsxp
     Reply
    MaQ was starred MaQ was unstarred
    Image of IN THE FACE! IN THE FACE!
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    This sounds like it was reposted from FoxNews. Did Obama endorse 7 or something? #windowsxp
     Reply
    IN THE FACE! was starred IN THE FACE! was unstarred
    Image of ara ara
    10/23/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    8. You loose performance. Nothing to cry about if all you do is type Word documents and surf the web, but in high-end stuff it really shows.

    9. OpenGL bugs all over the place with most of the major compositing softwares and some 3D ones too, either because GPU drivers are immature at this point or because MS just hates OpenGL and does everything to force developers on top of DirectX. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea promoted this comment ara was starred ara was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    10/23/09

    @ara: I have never seen a more wrong post in my life.

    1. Almost every benchmark comparing XP and Windows 7 on modern hardware (and not super high-end i7 processors with 12gb of RAM, either) shows Windows 7 having a performance edge over XP.

    2. Uh, what? I use OpenGL based modeling applications and games all the time no problem. Try actually updating your drivers instead of using the release that comes on the disc. Developers use DirectX because it's easier to develop for, not because Microsoft is "forcing" it on them. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of ara ara
    10/23/09

    @Thee Sea: Every single benchmark I've seen puts Windows 7 between Vista and XP, and that's where it firmly sits according to my own experiences too. It's better than Vista, but doesn't compare to XP. And I'm talking about the 64bit versions of each OS, haven't bothered to check how 32bit variants stack up.

    My drivers are well up to date, but there were nothing but beta flagged ones during the Win7 beta and RC1 period. What I meant by the forcing thing is that on Vista at the beginning you had to disable the 3D acceleration from windowing to run OpenGL applications, don't know if that's the case anymore, didn't seem to be with Win7. About the problematic software, for example Fusion crashed each and every time I opened anything to the viewport and Toxik just bugged all over the screen. Other applications, like 3Ds Max or Maya just have poor performance even in Direct3D modes. Win7 performance is about on par with Vista, they just run much less polygons on screen than on XP x64. #windowsxp
     Reply
    ara was starred ara was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    10/23/09

    @ara: You are seriously saying that XP64 is anything but a barely supported trainwreck?

    I do 33% of my work in 3ds Max and Maya, the other 66% being divided up between After Effects and then Final Cut Pro on my Mac. You're full of it. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of ara ara
    10/23/09

    @Thee Sea: Don't mix Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, which is the trainwreck you are talking about, to Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, which is essentially Windows Server 2003. It had bad driver support at start because of the server background, but today much of the Windows based high-end graphics is build on it as has been the only 64bit desktop Windows for such a long time, and the 32bit memory limit is serious business in high-end.

    I do professional compositing and 3D myself too, every single Windows workstation we have at work is Windows XP Pro x64 on it because of the memory limit.

    I notice you have rather aggressive attitude towards this issue, care to elaborate why? #windowsxp
     Reply
    ara was starred ara was unstarred
    Image of Eulatos Eulatos
    10/23/09

    @Thee Sea: I find it interesting that all the other winbots say no need to look for drivers win7 will do that for you, and yet here you are blaming it on drivers. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea promoted this comment Eulatos was starred Eulatos was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    10/27/09

    @Eulatos: You do realise that Windows doesn't automatically do that, right? You actually have to go into windows update. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of Eulatos Eulatos
    10/27/09

    @Thee Sea: Oh yes, i do realize that. I have to support windows all day long, and even in XP when it auto installs drivers i always uninstall them and install from the vendor site.

    Especially chipset drivers, nothing can make your computer worse than bad chipset drivers.

    Its just there is a good amount of double talk going on, its very similar to the vista launch. I personally am all for win7 being good enough that in about 6 months i can upgrade our whole staff to it, except for the poor lowly estimators who are using software that costs 15 grand and has to run in win98 emu mode. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Eulatos was starred Eulatos was unstarred
    Image of Yerzriknot Yerzriknot
    10/22/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    8: XP has far more modest system requirements then bloated 7. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea promoted this comment Yerzriknot was starred Yerzriknot was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    10/22/09

    @Yerzriknot: Yeah, I sure like having to use an OS that was barely supported by Microsoft in the first place to address more than 3gb of RAM, always running everything as an administrator and using a ten year old operating system, forsaking any innovation or advances in software at all. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of Paul Wheeler Paul Wheeler
    10/23/09

    @Yerzriknot: As for official requirements that may be true but I've installed W7 on a few very (5-7yo) computers and they've run wonderfully (faster than XP). I would say the only thing to make sure of is that you have at least 1.5 to 2 GB RAM and that is what I'd recommend for XP anyway. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea approved this comment Paul Wheeler was starred Paul Wheeler was unstarred
    Image of Thee Sea Thee Sea
    10/23/09

    @Paul Wheeler: Agreed, save for recommending running XP on 1.5 to 2gb of RAM.

    But really, complaining about RAM in this day and age is ridiculous. My parents got 3gb of RAM in their laptop (with a core 2 duo) and the entire thing was $700. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Thee Sea was starred Thee Sea was unstarred
    Image of Yerzriknot Yerzriknot
    10/23/09

    @Paul Wheeler: Nah, XP runs just fine on 512mb of RAM. Tweak it right and it can live off just 100. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Yerzriknot was starred Yerzriknot was unstarred
    Image of :negated: :negated:
    10/22/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    Here are some reasons to stick with an old OS:

    1) You're lazy. You don't already have backups of your important data because you're lazy. Reinstalling, updating, and keeping your programs up to date is too much work for you because... you're lazy.

    2) You're unorganized. You don't keep all your install discs and software keys in one convenient location like of those CD wallet things. You don't save downloaded program executables to their own directory because you're unorganized, and you're too lazy to re-download them.

    3) You haven't changed. You're still doing the same things on your computer you've been doing since win9x and were somehow conned into buying XP when the old computer kicked the bucket, or software compatibility forced you to upgrade. Why make it easy this time around when it can be just as painful and time consuming as the last time?

    4) You're poor. If you weren't spending all your money on beer and cigarettes, maybe you'd think differently, but just wait until the current box overheats and dies after the heatsink fan gets too clogged with dust and nicotine gunk before being forced to upgrade when you buckle down and buy a new computer from walmart.

    5) You're lazy. And afraid of bugs... because you're lazy and you don't back up your data. So why upgrade now when you can just reinforce your laziness by procrastinating, not backing up data, and waiting until SP1 'gets it right'.

    6) You're lazy. Microsoft said they'll support XP at least until 2014, and damned if you won't keep using it until then, barring your computer taking a dirtnap. You already skipped Vista, and who needs 7 when 8 will be out presumably before 2014?

    7) You're lazy. It's hard enough to bend over and hit the power button as it is, what with those cushioned arms on your chair, and your gut getting in the way, but installing an operating system? That sounds like... work... or something else unpleasant. Besides, your current computer isn't going to last forever; eventually it'll die a horrible death, probably taking all your precious data with it and forcing you to upgrade to a new computer, reinstall all that software you can never find the discs for, and download a bunch of new installers.

    All right, are we clear on that? #windowsxp
     Reply
    Canoehead promoted this comment :negated: was starred :negated: was unstarred
    Image of Duckspwn Duckspwn
    10/22/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    That is it everyone! Resist change! Change is bad! Progress should be inhibited! It's for the good of the world and humanity! #windowsxp
     Reply
    Duckspwn was starred Duckspwn was unstarred
    Image of DMF DMF
    10/22/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    Gizmodo Public Service Announcements.... nice... nice...

    Frucci, invest some time and film a cheesy PSA commercial to go a long with this. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Wilson Rothman promoted this comment DMF was starred DMF was unstarred
    Image of jdale jdale
    10/22/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    How well does Win7 work in a mixed (XP-7) home network? That seems like the one reason I can think to upgrade XP systems. But no rush until there is at least one Win7 system in the house. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Sticks Calhoun promoted this comment jdale was starred jdale was unstarred
    Image of Ajh Ajh
    10/22/09

    @jdale: Just fine. The computer with the printer attached is xp and I was able to grab files and print from it on a windows 7 running netbook. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Sticks Calhoun promoted this comment Ajh was starred Ajh was unstarred
    Image of Prosthetics Prosthetics
    10/22/09

    In reply to 7 Reasons to Stick with Windows XP
    For gamers anyway, most could use #1, as a reformat will no doubtingly speed up their PC. For #2, most gamers have digital media, or aren't stupid enough to lose their keys. For #4, most people who are jumping the gun to upgrade preordered for 50 dollars, or will buy OEM. #windowsxp
     Reply
    Wilson Rothman approved this comment Prosthetics was starred Prosthetics was unstarred
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