It was all really happening a decade ago this week. Earlier in the week a decade ago, the iPod was unveiled. Later in the week — ten years ago today — Microsoft officially launched Windows XP. Astonishingly, they’re both still in heavy use today.
Sure, you can’t buy Windows XP at a retail level any more, but that hasn’t stopped millions of computers the world over using it. One of my kids’ laptops is still a Windows XP machine (it’d never handle Vista), and I often spot XP in the wild. What about you — are you still using an XP machine?
Peter
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:07 AMLast time I used XP was to update some firmware because the manufacturer of that particular device ignored 64-bit Windows 7. People really should move on now, if not to 7 then some kind of alternative like Linux.
Matt
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:17 AM“Astonishingly, they’re both still in heavy use today.”
How many people are still using ten-year-old iPods?
Sean C
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:23 AMMe!
I have my 20gb iPod Classic in my car all the time.
HunterSBonobo
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:23 AMAt home I still have a 4+yr old Dell XPS running XP which still works fine – much better than the W7 netbook I bought earlier this year for work travel (although bumping up the 1gb RAM will help). Must admit that it’s not used for much more than browsing, torrenting and music though.
Weighing up replacing it with either a MBA/MBP or waiting on an ultrabook. The Dell will then become a dedicated XBMC or Linux Mint unit.
bazuden
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:24 AMMy work has almost 40,000 staff who use XP. We only just updated to IE8 this week!!
Sean C
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:25 AMI’m also in the middle of re-installing windows XP Media version onto a Dell for someone because their laptop is about the same age as XP and like Alex’s kids computer – anything newer wouldnt run – at least very well anyway.
Chazz
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:29 AMStill using XP here at work and *shudder* IE7.
Rhys
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:34 AMI’ve worked as a tech for 2 state governments and federal, they still use XP and IE6, it’s painfull
Keg
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:32 AMI’ve got a netbook at home which runs XP, and I was running it on my desktop up until a month ago, when I purchased a new computer and installed Win7 64bit.
moloko
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:34 AMXP was a beast of an OS, but after using Win 7 it’s just an old piece of crap . Just installing a piece of hardware was such a pain in the ass compared to now.
blaze0041
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 11:58 AMMy only use of XP now is in a Virtual PC.
exp_err
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:05 PMMy workplace uses XP as standard, even on new machines.
Bruce
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:12 PMI still use Xp, does everything i want and can’t seem to see why upgrading is so necessary. Found out this week that IOS5 iCloud doesnt support XP, grrrr…
David
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:44 PMlol you really should upgrade. You will know why once you have made the jump.
Hard to explain but 1000% better.
Mikey
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:14 PMRockin it straight from work.
Sent from my XP machine.
Joe P
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:57 PMSent from my XP machine.
I LOL’D and yes I still have an old PC that runs XP, works a treat as a crash and burn device for teaching elderly parents computing skills.
Alex
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:48 PMcorporate world still got massive XP fleets out there … I really hope win 8 nails it coz its a bit to late to move to 7 and if 8 is sh!t businesses are stuck with a bit of an issue
Antonia
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 1:20 PMI’ve been using Win 8 beta for a few weeks now and expecting users with a desktop machine to use an OS designed for a tablet is, in my opinion, a *big* mistake.
Alex
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 4:01 PMcant agree more … some things cant be combined …. I be happy if they prove me wrong
Patrick
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 1:28 PMI still us XP.. like blaze0041 said, mine are in VM’s inside OSX.. which I switched to in 2008 after the VistaF**kup.. and based on Windows 7 Im glad I did, cant stand the interface changes and XP was simple, to do almost anything is Vista or 7 is too complicated (and Ive been in IT since 98)… XP, IMHO is the best OS MS has produced.. Windows 98 SE following close behind…
Patrick
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 1:29 PMErmm due to lack of an edit feature.. that should read “I still USE XP..”
MotorMouth
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 1:54 PMI reverted my Dell M4400 to XP when I swapped the HDD for a 128Gb SSD and needed the space – XP takes up around 400Mb but Vista and Win7 require more than 2Gb each (Win8 takes up 3.85Gb on my netbook).
I’ve now got a newer Vaio running Win7 64 but I still use the old machine at work, to run PC software. Flitting between XP, Win7 and OSX makes me really appreciate just how good XP is. Yes, Win7 looks prettier and it does some things better but I’d take XP over any Linux distro or OS X. It is rock-solid, supports absolutely every piece of hardware known to man and mostly stays out of the way, exactly what you want from your OS.
amy
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 2:03 PMWork has Vista capable machines. Wiped it and installed an image of XP on it. I peeled off the ‘Windows Vista capable’ sticker.
Sent from my XP machine.
HighlyDubious
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 3:20 PMPosting from an 8 yr old XP box with 1gb RAM.
:(
DaleM
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 7:20 PMWork (local government) still running on WinXP with a mix of SP1, SP2 and SP3 with 1Gb RAM
Chemenski
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 8:22 PMMy Uni still uses XP on a majority of machines. However they have upgraded a few to Windows 7.
Bharat Iyer
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 9:51 AMI was using Windows XP from release to 2009! Then I switched to Vista for a year, that was terrible. And I’ve been a Mac ser since 2010 :D