28 replies to this topic

[aaamusements]

Shame they got rid of Clipit though, wasn't it?

[Daryl]

Its Ether Windows Xp Or 7 Ultimate For Me - Honestly Though You Carnt Beat A mac For Power & Performance 


 

You certainly can't...

[Magz]

I am VERY, VERY happy that MS are finally getting rid of XP support. It's a decade old O/S which is a pain to support, and better news for me is that they're also getting rid of 2003 Office which is also a nightmare.

 

As a BETA tester for Windows XP, I remember it fondly but I'd not go back and am glad that most clients are now moving away from it.

 

Anyone who purchased XP directly (which is rare as most will have OEM licenses) had support for at least 5 years (assuming purchased directly), some up to 12 years which is way more than you get from most software vendors. Try getting Apple support for MacOS 10.0 in 2014 and see how you get on! Realistically, how long should they continue to support an O/S?

 

It's also untrue that Microsoft hid this information. It's published here:

 

http://support.micro...m/gp/lifeselect

 

The 2003 (R2) server is still under support for another year. This was always in the timeline.

 

Businesses do still use XP, although it is rarely the main O/S and often there for legacy applications. There is no direct security issue with continuing to do this, and in most cases that I deal with XP boxes have been removed from the main network and left with only access for legacy applications. Alternatively for some clients we have moved the applications to 2003 Terminal Services which is still supported. Some big businesses have opted to pay for continued support, but this is not available by default.

 

If I'd criticise MS for their handling of legacy it would be the dropping of Exchange 2003 support in Outlook 2013. As Office 2013 is the only version which can be purchased OEM (the cheapest option in most cases) and has no downgrade rights, users of Exchange 2003 have no option other than to not use Outlook, or install the Outlook 2003 license that came with Exchange 2003 which looks odd (and has a lot of issues) running alongside the newer versions of Word etc. There are licensing options to work around this but they're a little convoluted to say the least.

 

On the  whole though, I feel Microsoft get a lot of flak for their product lifecycles which is unfair when you compare them to their competitors and other software companies. Maybe it's because they have the market share, or that they're not seen as being the cool, loveable company that others are...

 

Edit : Fixed URL.

Edited by Magz, 19 April 2014 - 10:20 AM.

[Daryl]

That is a very passionate and well-written post Magz... and very descriptive too.

I think the majority of us are just nostalgic over Windows XP because everything just seemed to work well with it, and to a vast extent, still does!

You've got to remember that most of us here, like yourself are FME fans, particularly and especially the MFME emulators. As the releases came, and Windows XP became the common operating system of that time (I believe Windows2000 and Windows ME were available and also running then) MFME found its 'niche' with Wizard supporting updates for the official releases especially for Windows XP until the leak.

I believe the majority of us only feel this way for that reason alone with the loss of Windows XP support, although I do also for the Microsoft Train Simulator 2001, because it ran like a knife though melted butter on the OS, but I have found nothing but glitches and problems trying to get it to run on Windows Vista and Windows 7, and on Windows 8 it just isn't supported at all!

So yes, I totally understand the logic and business sense of it - but no, the nostalgic part of me can't ever really accept it at all!

[Daryl]

I believe Office 2007 is still supported with Outlook, but don't quote me on it, and if it is - it's shelf life won't be that long!

If you had a Mac, the Pages, Numbers, Mail and KeyNote would support Microsoft Office without conversion at all... but I believe that LibreOffice Suite is a very good 'free and open source' Office suite, that can be defaulted to the .doc or .docx file format and Thunderbird Mail from Firefox can also support Outlook extensions too, and that is free also

[Magz]

If you need Access, then you'll need to get the PRO version. Office 365 is the cheapest way to get this up front, but if you want to avoid the monthly premium then you're looking at over £300 for the retail pro version. This is independent of the version as they're all in a similar price bracket. It would be slightly cheaper to get the Standard edition for around £140 and then Access for around £110.

 

Daryl's option of Libre Office may well suffice for your needs, especially if your Access use is not particularly intricate.