

Extending Chrome support for XP users until April 2015 - cpeterso
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2013/10/extending-chrome-support-for-xp-users.html

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eli
This is a really good thing.

There are going to be people who, for whatever reason, are going to be on XP
for loooong time. It's better for everyone that they have access to a modern,
evolving browser.

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anologwintermut
Given that XP stops getting security patches in April and will then be even
more of a problem in terms of botnets , not to mention a security issue for
anyone using it , I think a strong case can be made that no, it's not better
to give people modern evolving anything on XP.

They should feel like they are living in the dark ages, devoid of modern
luxuries and subject to the whim of any thug that comes along ... because they
are or soon will be.

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eli
I guess we'll just agree to disagree. A non-zero percentage of people will be
stuck on XP because they don't know better or don't own the machine. I would
much rather have those people use Chrome than IE8. They are far less likely to
become part of a botnet if they have a modern browser.

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georgemcbay
My guess is that the Chrome team feels pretty good about the cross-platform
framework bits of Chrome and don't expect to make major changes to it for a
while. They're still going to have a lot of Win32 code in there to support
newer versions of Windows since it is extremely unlikely they are going to
migrate it fully to WinRT (or anything other than basic Win32 APIs), so it
isn't like they'd be able to drop a huge amount of code from ongoing
maintenance by dropping XP support anyway. It's probably mostly just a bit of
extra release engineering work to them at this point.

Given this, the cost of continued XP support is pretty minimal and the PR from
supporting XP longer than Microsoft does is good for them, so why not? I
wouldn't expect them to really drop XP support until they eventually go 64-bit
only on the desktop (which may be what the continued sunset-date they are
giving is a hedge against).

No matter what the reason, this is good for adoption of newer web technology.
If you do get stuck with laggards still running XP, tell them to use Chrome.
They might not want to bother, but at least you're giving them a better
potential solution than "fuck off".

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frederickf
Is Microsoft also deprecating support for IE on Windows XP? If so, this is a
clever attempt by Google to get companies to switch to Chrome. Eventually
they'll upgrade to newer versions of Windows, and maybe they'll just keep
using Chrome.

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gsnedders
MS will end support for IE on Windows XP when they end support for Windows XP
in six months.

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SigmundA
If by "support" you mean IE8, or you can use the latest version of Chrome...

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nivla
Although I feel everyone should have upgraded from XP by now, this a ingenious
way for Google to increase chrome's market share. Being the only supported
browser after XP EOLs will definitely catch the attention of the corporate
world. Wonder if Firefox will offer something similar.

~~~
eli
Didn't Firefox already end support for XP? I'm sure it's a non-trivial amount
of work to maintain compatibility.

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JohnTHaller
Firefox will likely remain supported on XP for even longer than Chrome.
Firefox was still supporting Windows 2000 when Chrome was originally
launched... at which time Chrome only ran on Windows XP or better. At the time
of Chrome's launch, Windows 2000 was still within its support lifecycle and
would be for another 2 years.

Firefox 12, released just last year, was the last version to support Windows
2000 despite the fact that Windows 2000 was end of lifed in 2010. If they
stick to the same old OS support timeframe, Firefox would support Windows XP
through 2015.

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ck2
I actually disagree with this, despite being a die-hard XP user.

Once security fixes stop for the OS, you don't want to lure people into
sticking around.

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dpcx
I don't think they're "luring" them to stick around. But if the OS is still in
use, shouldn't the (arguably) most used piece of software still be secure?

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Eiwatah4
Is there any chance for that most-used software to be secure if the underlying
OS is full of holes?

(I'm not completely sure myself. But I'd rather err on the safe side.)

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JimmaDaRustla
Even Steve Gibson upgraded. I really scratch my head at this, unless Google is
trying to increase browser market share in China?

~~~
McGlockenshire
"If I can't convince Grandma to buy a new computer, at least I can have her
use Chrome instead of IE."

~~~
JimmaDaRustla
True, but its not like the current versions of Chrome on XP are terrible or
insecure.

I know one person out of hundreds who use XP...but market share states that it
is in the 33% mark? Where are these people?

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qdog
I have a laptop that runs XP, I'm unlikely to upgrade it until it dies. I
don't do anything on it that requires a newer OS, so not sure why I'd pay the
$$ to upgrade until I get/need a new laptop.

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trothoun
Now, if only they could maintain long term support for their own services,
everything would be great.

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outside1234
This is Google sticking it to Microsoft - its not in Google's benefit to have
people upgrade from XP.

Very transparent, nothing to see here.

~~~
lucb1e
Actually, I'd say it's in Google's interest to have more users for their
browser, and in Microsoft's interest to have users upgrade because of a lack
of support.

