Life support's ABOUT to be switched off, but XP's suddenly COOL again

Re: "none of them have had any security problems"

You mean to say "none of them have been targeted yet", don't you ?

"none of them have had any security problems"

... they are aware of... <G>

The more holes you have, the easier for an attacker to hide on your systems. You can't rely on a single layer of protection - running unpatched systems thinking your firewall, IDS or AV will protect you is simply silly.

RE: I'll say it again

on the other hand none of them have had any security problems.

I bet that's what Barclays thought too

Re: A possible explanation

Or lots of people (like me) who've seen the hype have dusted off their old XP laptops to do "one last" round of updates, and while they're downloading they've been surfing, updating social media pages, etc. hence inflating the numbers of apparently active XP systems.

As for the _two_ schools of thought, there is a thrid one. Script Kiddies will get far more kudos for their latest Android or Windows 8 hack, and so very few of them will give a damn about writing new malware for an obsolete OS. How many new viruses for 95 or 98 have appeared recently?

A simpler explanation

Net Applications numbers are based on browsers so pretty suspect in any case. However, you always see a surge in IE in January as people return to corporate environments after the holidays. I'd hazard a guess that the majority of household computers have already moved to Windows 7 not least because they don't have access to enterprise install disks.

Not morons

Just ordinary folk, not techie, doing ordinary jobs, who see a computer as a commodity item. And they just want it to work. Which is also one reason why they sell their souls to Amazon and/or Google.Those ithingys and Android data slurpers just work.

No constant updates. No screens suddenly appearing or vanishing when you move a mouse incautiously. No files buried deep down in obscure folders that aren't really where they seem to be,

XP shares some of that simple, basic functionality. WIn 7 at least gives an appearance of it. Win 8 is a dog's breakfast.

"What moron browses the internet while logged on as Admin?"

1. Anyone using Windows, which makes it extremely awkward to work with separate root and user accounts.

2. Anyone using Linux who has to do system admin work that involves (as it all too often does nowadays) network access as an integral part of processes such as installations and upgrades.

What morons browses the internet while logged on as Admin?

easy answer for you: windows users.

"What moron browses the internet while logged on as Admin?"

These "morons" you speak of - most of them will be completely unaware of even the concept of Admin. These "morons" will most likely believe that all users of a PC have the same amount of access and won't know that it's possible to have different levels of authority. The thought will not even have occurred to them.

These "morons" will include people like your kids, your parents, your siblings, your neighbours, the butcher down the road and the newsagent beside that.

These "morons" are normal intelligent people, who I'm pretty sure make up the vast, vast majority of the population.

You should've asked what geek or nerd does it - and even then I'm certain there'd be way more positives than negatives.

This will probably be unpopular even with some of your down-voters, but I'd classify as a sub-set of the 'Moron' group being those who think, if you're sensible, it matters.

To believe that (unless you frequent the darker side of the internet and/or you're extremely unlucky) you need _not_ to be in an admin account while surfing, is paranoia on a par with wearing a safety helmet for walking.

Or are you just loudly re-tweeting the peer group's received wisdom, like any other mark social acceptance addict?

"What moron browses the internet while logged on as Admin?"

The same Morons that don't do monthly tyre, oil and water checks on their cars;

The same Morons that don't have an annual service on their boilers

The same Morons that don't carbon monoxide detectors near fossil fuel burning appliances.

The same Morons that don't check their smoke alarms once a month

The same Morons that cross near, but not on a pedestrian crossings

The same Morons that don't turn off devices at the mains (ask your local fire brigade about this one)

i.e. normal people, of course if you don't do any of those, ever, well done, but I could go on and sure I find something you SHOULD be doing, but don't.

Re: I still love XP..

http://how-to.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_watch_Netflix_%28Watch_Instantly%29_in_Linux

It's possible to use Netflix in Linux, I find that it's slightly laggier and sometimes there's a touch of artefacting, but it's definitely watchable.

Re: I still love XP..

You run XP under a VM to just watch netflix??

Yet you use linux and android for the rest. Why not use the android netflix app? As for the VM, whats wrong with wine? Not that I am a *ux lover but seriously... I call you on that one mate.

Will Ford replace my other half's 1999 Fiesta with a 2012 model?

Thought not.

Why would they Julian? Serious answer only. And if we must compare cars why not go all the way back to when drum brakes and no airbags were standard. Should a car manufacturer replace them for free too? Take your brain out of first gear mate.

You can get a free upgrade from Xubuntu 13.04 to 13.10 for a limited time, if you act NOW. It looks and acts a lot like XP, except for the malware download client.

Re: Am I imagining things?

"ISTR there is an EU-wide mandatory 6 year warranty against design faults."

That would be pretty hard to apply to someone hacking your computer. It would be similar to claiming that because your car was stolen there must have been a design fault and thus the manufacturer should give you another for free.

A vulnerability isn't a fault, in the same way that a car having windows made of glass isn't a fault. The obvious solution for MS if a court tried that approach would simply be to release one last update that disabled all networking capability, rendering the OS completely secure.