Windows XP upgrade time comes

Computer Store News: As a very modified operating system from Microsoft, Windows 8 was released on October 26th. At this point, the release from Windows XP is just about 11 years. Until recently, Windows XP has been the most popular operating system in the computer market. At the peak of 2007, Windows XP's market share was close to 4/5. Even now, after Microsoft released 3 generations of products to replace Windows XP, Windows XP is still the second-ranked operating system, accounting for a quarter of the world's 1.5 billion computers.

Microsoft released Windows Vista in January 2007, released Windows 7 in October 2009, and released Windows 8 in October 2012. Previously, many users were reluctant to upgrade their operating systems because Windows XP was sufficient for the job. With the latest security patches and bug fixes, Windows XP is always up to date. After turning off all the slick visual effects and turning on security, Windows XP is a simple and robust operating system with the same performance as the new version.

But it's all coming to an end. According to recent observations, Windows 8 is probably the best operating system from Microsoft so far and the best alternative to Windows XP. Windows 8 has built-in security, system startup and exit speeds, smooth operation, and extremely fast response times, especially when used with touch screens.

The most impressive thing is that Windows 8 has completely redesigned the user interface. With "dynamic blocks", users can visually understand what's running and make it easier to see things like dynamic summaries, emails, and short messages. In the current multi-tasking, multimedia environment, this type of concurrent computing is exactly what users need. In contrast, the invention by Apple, the mouse operations widely used in previous versions of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X look very old-fashioned and are the product of the last century.

Windows 8 Defects

It is acknowledged that in order to break the current user interface constraints, Windows 8 requires users to change many of the habits that have been developed over time. Some people want Microsoft to provide the "Start" button. After moving to Windows 8, a generation that grows with the “Start” button will face a new learning curve. The biggest problem is the enterprise market, where companies will have to spend a lot of money and retrain their employees to master the basic operations.

In addition, in order to maximize the performance of Windows 8, users are better to use the touch screen, which leads to an increase in the cost of upgrading. In the corporate market, the overall budget for purchasing computers and other IT equipment is still below the pre-recession level. Therefore, the upgrade period will be extended from the original 3 to 4 years to more than 5 years.

Similar to all new operating systems, Windows 8 is likely to have compatibility issues with older printers, scanners, video cards, and other hardware. In order for Windows 8 to support previous peripheral products, hardware developers need to develop more drivers. Some devices may never support Windows 8, because peripheral vendors will focus on the latest products, enabling new products to run seamlessly in dynamic block-based touch interfaces.

Applications are also facing the same situation. Microsoft has re-developed Office packages and a variety of other programs to better support Windows 8 and Windows RT. However, some third-party software developers have not yet done so. Therefore, in Microsoft's Windows Store app store, the number of dynamic block-based applications is still small. In contrast, the Apple App Store has optimized 27 million apps for the iPad.

In short, don't expect the enterprise market to accept Windows 8 very quickly. Many employers are satisfied with Windows 7, and they are likely to continue to hold this view in the future until the next hardware upgrade cycle. At that time, the new computers they purchased will be pre-installed with Windows 8. In addition, this will depend to some extent on the speed at which companies are accepting Windows 8 and Windows RT.

Individual users may vary. On the first weekend of the sale, Windows 8 sold 4 million upgraded copies. Most of these copies went to individual users who purchased Windows 7 computers after June of this year, but some also spent $15 on Windows 8 upgrades. In the next year, users who purchase Windows 8 computers and tablets will account for a large portion of total sales.

How XP users respond

There are still hundreds of millions of computers in the world that rely on Windows XP. What will happen to this part of the computer in the future? Users of these computers can make further decisions on April 8, 2014. After this date, Microsoft will stop providing free security updates, bug fixes, and technical support for Windows XP. Users will need to decide whether to purchase specific technical support from Microsoft, upgrade to a new version of Windows, or do nothing, just expect hackers not to attack computers that they cannot protect.

Since system upgrades are only a matter of time, some industry insiders recommend not to wait until the last minute. Windows 8 is a good choice, but the problem is that many older peripherals can't find software drivers in Windows 8.

The best way to solve this problem is to run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, which is currently available for free download from Microsoft. After running the tool, you can see if Windows 8 supports the current computer. If supported, then the application and driver are compatible.

The obvious answer is to bypass Windows Vista and upgrade directly to Windows 7. Microsoft has promised to provide technical support for Windows 7 by 2020. Some hardware incompatibility issues will continue to exist. Microsoft's Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will show which hardware is compatible and which are not. In most cases, Windows 7 is more compatible with Windows 8 than Windows 8.

Even so, upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 is not as easy as walking. This is not just to insert the Windows 7 CD into your CD-ROM drive and click the Upgrade button. This may be the case when upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7, but if you upgrade directly from Windows XP to Windows 7, your files and settings will be lost.

So before doing this upgrade, users need to save all files and settings to a USB drive or network storage service. Users can restore files and settings to their computer only when the operating system is fully upgraded. After that, users also need to do tedious work: reinstall all apps and download a lot of updates.

Fortunately, some tools can help users do this, including Microsoft's Windows 7 Easy Transfer. Some tools can even help users find the latest drivers for accessories and peripherals. This means that the user can restore the computer to work relatively conveniently.

Is it worth it? This doesn't seem to make much sense because it doesn't bring much performance gains. The workload of upgrading the system from Windows XP to Windows 7 is too large, and some people are even willing to pay for a special automatic transfer tool, such as Zinstall.

However, Windows XP will usher in the last days. Users cannot rely on a system that is vulnerable to malware. If the user's computer is infected with malware, then the whole life can get into chaos.

Since there are still hundreds of millions of computers running Windows XP, and Microsoft wants users to upgrade to Windows 7, at least, Microsoft should introduce new tools to simplify the upgrade process.