Chuckle. Maybe the malware-writers of the world will actually do the world a favour by blowing that other OS out of the water in April. I think malware is one of the top few reasons to migrate to GNU/Linux. This could bring on board another few hundred million disenfranchised slaves of M$. I recommend that users of XP, before or soon after Armageddon, migrate to Debian GNU/Linux, the universal operating system that will work for them instead of M$ and “partners”.
“Security experts have been predicting that malware creators all over the world are finding exploits anywhere they can within the OS and holding on to them. They know if they unleash an exploit now, it will be fixed. But if they are patient and wait, and hope Microsoft doesn’t find the vulnerability, then they can use it for maximum gain come April 9.
The same holds true for Office 2003. Support for it ends on April 15, one week later. Office 2003 is still in wide use because it is on older machines running XP, and also some people prefer it. I was one of them. I never liked the ribbon interface introduced with Office 2007, but I also saw the writing on the wall.”
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My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. Now that I'm retired I still use GNU/Linux on every computer in my home except the smartphones which run Android/Linux.Lately, I've been giving lots of thought to the world I inherited and which I will leave to my descendants. I'm planting grass, trees, flowers and vegetables in my large lot and I've ordered a Solo EV. I plan to charge my Solo by means of a tracking solar array. Life is good if you have a purpose. I do.
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Michael Rudas wrote, “there likely just won’t be enough time or resources given to a near-moribund OS by MS to fix much, especially for the stealthiest exploits.”
That sounds like the biggest multi-player game of chicken ever. It could make the waves of malware a decade ago seem like a white cloud floating high above us. I can see governments intervening one way or another. I can see governments distributing public service announcements with URIs for GNU/Linux distros. We live in interesting times.
The biggest concentration of XP machines is likely in Asia and some emerging IT markets. XP crashing and burning on a global scale may be a timely education about GNU/Linux and FLOSS.
In my experience and readings, emerging markets/societies/organizations emerge very quickly and either compound previous mistakes or take new paths. I see the world of IT taking a new path. While it took ~a decade for GNU/Linux to barely scrape over the threshold in established IT markets, it may take only a year or two for GNU/Linux to replace a good fraction of the XP machines out there which, while not snappy, are good enough for most purposes especially new users who have no expectation of Windows-like behaviour/bloat/malware. I have known many XP machines with 512 MB RAM and 40gB hard drives. They are at least competitive against many mobile devices in performance and cost very little because they are already owned or will be dumped on a recycling market.
The bad guys don’t even have to wait until April. Nearly any malware introduced after about mid-February is unlikely to be fixed—there likely just won’t be enough time or resources given to a near-moribund OS by MS to fix much, especially for the stealthiest exploits.
The State Copyright Bureau of China’s government says that by stopping the Windows XP support and the Windows Live chat support, Microsoft is putting its users in China under great security threats. For this reason, China has demanded Microsoft to extend their support offered to Windows XP and go on with the sales of Windows 7 in China.
You would think that the Chinese would be intelligent enough just say the hell with M$ and jump to Linux.
ChillyPenguin wrote, “even running a support MS OS might not save you.”
Good point. It reminds me of Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. Swarms of bad things hammering everyone and everything in the “neighbourhood”. Since malware-writers act independently and users of that other OS are anchored, a spike in malware attacks overnight could be huge. I can see China, and other governments, finally being mobilized to do something about that other OS… The world does not need M$ as a single point of failure.
Note also:
“because Microsoft reuses so much code, exploits found in one OS tend to show up in all of them. So many zero-day exploits being sat on right now might also impact Windows 7/8 machines”
So, even running a support MS OS might not save you.