Windows XP Support Ends, But Many Users Are Still Sticking To It

Microsoft has completely ended its support for the old Windows XP operating system. This is of course old news. However, some of the users, it seems, have totally ignored it. How else can you explain the millions of users still clinging on to Windows XP? Windows XP support ended on April 8, this year and it is still the second most popular operating system.

Though it seems totally insane to continue with Windows XP after the end of support, things get much clear when we analyze the probable reasons. The first one is the familiarity of the operating system. Windows XP has been around for many years now, thirteen years to be precise. This is in no way a small period for an operating system. Because of its long life span, most Windows users are familiar with Windows XP and its features. Moreover, Windows XP has evolved over the years to become one of the most solid operating systems developed by the software maker.

Another possible reason is the fear of change. Most users are familiar with Windows XP and they could not possible think of any other operating system taking the place of Windows XP. Migrating to newer operating systems means adjusting to a new system, which might not be an easy task for many users.

Another possible reason is the awful Windows Vista operating system. The Windows Vista effect actually boosted the significance of Windows XP, its reliability and stability. Windows Vista is one of the worst missteps for the software maker. There were too many issues with Windows Vista. Some of the features had problems and it was actually slower than XP.

Since Windows XP existed for so long, there were many software applications developed during its time. Many business applications were developed to be compatible only to Windows XP. Migrating to newer operating systems means that these companies have to invest their time, effort and money for developing or purchasing new software that works on them. This may not be feasible for SMBs that work on a shoestring budget.

Whatever may be the case, continuing with an unsupported OS can be extremely unsafe. You may have to guard your system against the ever growing number of security threats. There are antivirus options but not all are good enough. Some such as our Omni Tech Support scam warning would like alert you about fraudulent sites or apps. This Omni Tech Support scam warning means that you need to pay attention before downloading these applications.

Microsoft Releases Windows Developer Program For IoT

At the Build 2014 Conference, Microsoft showcased a version of their Windows operating system that is all set to run on the Intel Galileo board, which is a hardware development board that contains a Quark CPU and a number of other hardware device interfaces to go with. The company also stated that they would be providing developer copies of the operating system to interested parties. The company subsequently even opened up the sign-up page for the developer kit and developer preview versions of the program at the conference itself. According to the news we get from our source in the Windows support number staff, the company is all set to roll out about hundreds of developer kits to those signed up at the conference.

Not only that, the company will be releasing hundreds of copies of the developer kits in each week of the summer. In their official blog post, the company spokesperson stated as follows, "I’m pleased to share that we’ve begun rolling out a new Windows Developer Program for IoT. Through this program we are introducing a new Windows Developer for IoT Portal, with documentation and examples to support the developer kits we are starting to ship in small batches. These developer kits include a Galileo board and preview Windows image that supports the standard Arduino Wiring API set and a subset of Win32 API. This Windows image does not yet support Galileo boards outside of our program.”

The Windows support number technicians were given a preview of the developer program and our source there states that the new IoT portal Microsoft has developed for working with the developer kit is awesome, with all the documentation and examples for supporting the programs. If you are not familiar with IoT, it stands for Internet of Things and Microsoft aims to bring their Windows range of products to work with smaller devices. Since the production of the developer kit is working a bit slow, the company will be releasing a batch of the developer kits only a few hundred at a time. However, we hope to see more kits released to the market in the near future.

It was also heard that the Redmond based company is planning to add more templates and guidelines to the developer preview version of the program. However, with the plethora of subscriptions and requests the company is getting for developer preview version, not everyone who has signed up for the kits will be getting them.