

Windows XP end-of-life migration guide - hepha1979
http://www.zdnet.com/windows-xp-end-of-life-migration-guide-7000023800/

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teddyh
The _big_ thing about the end of XP is the non-support of SNI (server name
indication) in TLS (SSL) in _any_ version of IE on XP.

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protonfish
Wow. The best reason to upgrade is to remove the version lock on the default
browser. Not sure what all that says about Microsoft and the current state of
technology, but it is weird and sad.

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zanny
I don't get this, though. The default browser before IE10 was awful, so you
shouldn't use it anyway.

It isn't my fault you have incompetent higher ups that seem to trust MS with
their lives but won't even consider Google or Mozilla.

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eDavis698
I do corperate IT work. Firefox & Chrome cannot be managed while IE is
integrated with Active Directory. Honestly it is a pain when the end user gets
tricked into installing Chrome and now none of their work websites function
due to needing a real Microsoft Active X runtime.

Your computer won't boot/Windows corrupted? Sorry you just lost all your
history & bookmarks if you used IE I could have transfered them to your new
computer for you (IE stores them in a folder, Firefox you can but it is a
pain, Chrome you are hosed.)

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halviti
*corporate

IE is not integrated with Active Directory.

IE settings can be controlled through group policies, and there are policies
that can be applied to IE that MS bundles with Windows Server.

Firefox and Chrome can be controlled in a similar manner through group policy
by downloading the administrative templates from the respective organizations.

On chrome you are not "hosed". All of the bookmarks are stored in a single
file aptly named "bookmarks", just move the file to the new computer. Done.

Firefox also stores your bookmarks in a single file. Just replace the file on
the new computer and you're done.

Surely copying a single file can't be more of a pain than copying many
individual files.

Nobody uses ActiveX on the web anymore, due to it's IE-only nature. Sure,
websites still exist, but they have become rarer over the past half-decade.

With your example: if you have a user that can't figure out how to click on a
different browser icon on their desktop, this is nothing more than a user
training issue.. or if you are that adamant that Chrome is a serious problem
for you, just use group policy to prevent your users from installing it.

I manage several thousand users, most use chrome, some use firefox, and
internet explorer is also there for people that aren't familiar with other
browsers, or need to access special (poorly designed) websites. All browsers
are managed with group policy and bookmarks are managed with ease.

User complaints are at zero because so far everyone has been able to tell the
difference between the icons.

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CapitalistCartr
Not everyone is using software in a standard office environment. I have a CNC
machine running Windows NT 4. Its a production machine; I need it running,
period. I have another running Windows 2000; its a tooling machine, also
essential. I have PCs running various CAD and CAM programs which cost 5
figures, and are not negotiable; I simply need them at all times. I need my
server of all our past work available at all times; I need the network to be
equally available. I can't afford the disruption of trying to get all this
running on a new OS because Microsoft thinks I have nothing better to do. I
have product to get out the door.

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y0ghur7_xxx
> _According to Microsoft, a full operating system migration can take up to
> six months_

Well, we have to migrate about 6000 pcs, and it's a 1 and ½ years project.
Much more than six moths.

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mkesper
So why did you start so late / why does it take so long?

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rubberband
A lot of businesses I talk to have a lot of legacy applications which work
well under XP, but break for whatever esoteric reason (for example, an old
Access database, or VB6 app) under Windows 7/8\. An equally large pain the ass
is a _ton_ of intranet sites break when switching to IE9 and above (heck, a
lot of companies still force IE6/7 and below with Group Policy). It's
difficult to make a case to management when everything is working well (it's
hard to explain the nuances of "end of support life cycle" to someone who
needs help "getting to the Google").

Also, there are a fair number of desktop software products which don't even
support Windows 8 yet. Hard as it may seem for the crowd here, most of the
software world is not on the HTML5/Ruby/OMGMVCJAVASCRIPTBRO bandwagon yet.

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obituary_latte
What's wrong with the OMJB framework? I've written hundreds of large-scale
multi-optional dynamic polymorphic backend front-end GUI shell's on legacy
mainframe infrastructure with it.

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wil421
Thank god. There are still people in my office using XP and IE 6/7 that I
wonder why they cant do or see certain things.

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mdisraeli
Web apps that only officially support older versions of IE. In some cases,
blocking entirely other browsers even if they would work. And even when they
don't, the vendor only officially supports certain browsers and rejects any
incidents logged using other ones.

The exact same thing is a key reason why XP has remained in use for so long.

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TillE
This is what VMs are for. If you really really absolutely must run one piece
of ancient software, it doesn't need to hold back everything else you do.

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bruceboughton
XP in your VM is still EOL. Doesn't really help you. Also, you double your
licensing costs.

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eleitl
> XP in your VM is still EOL

Doesn't matter that much if it's on a private network.

> Also, you double your licensing costs.

Not if the OS and virtualization solution require no license.

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Aardwolf
"Windows 7 or 8?"

By the time they've made that decision, Windows 9 may be out :)

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herf
Microsoft made it way too hard to upgrade out of XP (unless you updated
through Vista.) It is no wonder everyone is still on XP.

It would light the PC industry on fire if they made it one click to move your
stuff to another machine.

You can buy a new Mac every year and only wait a few hours to move everything,
but on Windows it takes months.

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raesene3
That could be a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. From what I've seen
the migration time for large corporate XP deployments has little to do with
the OS upgrade itself and everything to do with the application support
issues.

I was at a meeting recently where people were still saying that they had
applications which would only run on XP, which was why they hadn't upgraded.

The problem for corporates now is likely that they won't/can't complete an
upgrade before the deadline and the risks of having unsupported XP are
unknown. One theory is that a lot of potential attacker will be holding any XP
exploits they have at the moment with the intent to use them after the end of
support, when there will likely be no patch.

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salient
With XP finally at the end of life, this is a great opportunity for many
companies or institutions to switch to Linux.

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jzwinck
I'm all for Linux, but this won't happen. The people who leave XP due to
running out of paid support options will find no comfort in Linux. Commercial
support is too fragmented and not as discoverable as on Windows. People who do
not care will stay on XP still. Companies will upgrade to Windows 8, or
perhaps 7. I don't see a big demographic switching to Linux right now.

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VLM
"The people who leave XP due to running out of paid support options will find
no comfort in Linux."

I can't be bothered to post links to every distro and every consultant on the
planet, but just for laughs:

[http://www.debian.org/consultants/](http://www.debian.org/consultants/)

And this is just independents (mostly) and just Debian. I'm sure IBM and other
major corps would be glad to help as long as its legal, which is not an issue
with FOSS unlike windows.

Now if MS opensourced windows XP as part of the abandonment, that might be
interesting.

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dagw
I just checked your link for consultants in my country. One is a dude with a
hotmail address and no website. One is a dude with a simple static website
with his picture,name and a message that says basically "We do Everything!
Please call me!". One is apparently going out of business. One gave me a
warning about dodgy certificates. And finally one that sounded like a
legitimate company. Not really something I'd want to bet my company on.

~~~
flipchart
You're lucky you have anyone in your country :) South Africa isn't listed

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eleitl
If you're migrating off XP you should equally consider migrating to Linux.

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mhurron
Yes, because it's not like any of the applications you use on XP will work on
Windows 7 or 8.

And Exchange support is so wonderful on Linux apps. And Active Directory,
that's just a walk in the park.

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vdm
1\. Switch to an app with a backend that can talk to a tablet and a browser.

