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Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:59 am
by Jessey
Yah ding, dong the mario, the evil xp is dead, :D

Here are some places that I have noticed that still use XP:
walmart
target
walgreens
lowsyo
hy-vee
save a lot
sears

yeah this is bad as it means that most of them are problay paying or laching on to the expensive 2017 suport, and some got extended suport (WTF). I hope no one else gets infected as all the stores I shop at still use xp.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:54 am
by Konata
Plenty of stores still use XP, plenty still use ME, pretty sure there's even some POS systems using MS-DOS. They can't afford to upgrade, and really they don't need to.
XP isn't dead, no Windows is dead depending on the context of support. MS-DOS may be dead in respect to official updates and software library, but if you're using it on a POS machine and plan to use specially-designed POS software, then it's far from dead.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:47 am
by EmuandCo
I work @ a IT service provider and beleive me.... you still find XP EVERYWHERE. ^^

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:01 pm
by Jessey
GOD, we are doomed. :D :) ;) I don't see why anyone wouild want to use xp, that is like using the same toothbrush for 13 years (barfs in brown bag) ;) :D . I mean I know most people think that they have to buy :D new pc, but that is not true as there are tones of solutions such as reactos, WTPC, Linux, Haiku, Ecomestation, just any thing that is not xp. :D :P :) :D :) :D :)

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:16 pm
by hbelusca
I have the same cell phone since 2004... :P

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:40 pm
by gamax92
I am still using OS/2 Warp 3 on a UM8810P-AIO</offtopic>

I don't exactly see what the problem of continuing to use XP is. Most (all?) of those examples are generally not running a main windows program.
They have their own software and drivers to manage and use the extra hardware such as coin dispensers, scanners, reading grocery weight, printers, and XP not being supported doesn't force any of that to not receive updates.

My father works at a place that still uses MS-DOS software for their computers. The software works and has been getting the job done for quite some time.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 2:10 am
by Oddjob64
As long as those computers aren't directly facing the Internet then I don't see a major problem.

What I found scary was a smaller store that has a Windows XP computer, connected to the credit card reader, and on which the cashier was browsing Facebook. I paid with cash on my way out (my debit card was emptied back when Target got hacked)...

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:09 am
by MadWolf
hi
shops are probably running running Windows Embedded POSReady 2009
Jessey wrote:GOD, we are doomed. :D :) ;) I don't see why anyone wouild want to use xp, that is like using the same toothbrush for 13 years
why fix something that is not broken xp pro works

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:55 am
by dizt3mp3r
XP is just an o/s, memory, disc management, a GUI, a platform and a set of APIs for applications to run upon. XP is just as good at running those functions as are Vista, 7 and 8 as the fundamentals haven't really changed much, only the GUI and the APIs have changed significantly (they haven't actually improved, just changed for commercial reasons).

XP will run just as well as any of them as long as you understand how to secure it and regularly back the system up. Backups are very easy these days, there are loads of tutorials about how to secure XP. After all these years of running XP, it is now a good and stable o/s, even with the teletubby interface.

I maintain and operate computers from the 1980s which are still running your lives, traffic lights, power stations, oil refineries, scada systems, CAD design and maintenance systems for civil and military aviation, they run them all and will continue to do so for 50 years yet. You would NEVER run any of them on Windows as you must never see a BSOD on a system that controls something like the transfer of nuclear waste in a waste storage facility. The blue screen of DEATH would have an entirely different meaning.

The older systems work, they are stable, solid as a rock and no-one writes viruses/trojans for them. The capital cost is recouped many times over.

Think about it - you could do a lot of your basic work on a windows 3.11 system and it would largely work (word processing, editing, spreadsheets, browsing, coding), the system would boot and run really quickly and importantly there would be zero chance of infection as no-one is writing viruses for windows 3.11.

No-one in their right mind would run a brand new o/s, buggy, insecure, unstable, untried, untested. That is why Microsoft redesigns the GUI, to make everyone think that there is a new o/s when in reality they are just dressing the old o/s in new and supposedly more fashionable clothes. You can only pull that trick so often.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:00 pm
by Z98
Quite a few of the project's team members would object to the claim that nothing has substantially changed internally between the NT5 and NT6 series. The processing power available since XP's initial release has changed considerably and to properly take advantage of them or to even be aware of them required substantial improvements/reworking of the OS. x64 for example did not exist, nor the massive amounts of memory, nor SSDs. Then there is the distinction between a multi-core system and a multi-processor system. The algorithms for the two are not always interchangeable and improperly using one for the other can result in significant performance degradation. Techniques such as Hyperthreading complicates things even more. XP also has several architectural issues that result in it having a much larger attack surface than its successors. As a consequence, securing XP these days pretty much amounts to keeping it off the internet because it lacks the many safeguards built into newer iterations of Windows. If all you see is the GUI, then I suggest you start lookinger deeper.

The systems that you claim are highly reliable achieve this seeming reliability by being effectively fixed function. Operating systems like Windows need to provide considerably more functionality than anything industrial systems need to provide. And even then, it has become very apparent in recent times that their overall quality is just as uneven. As far as no one writing viruses against them, that is also not true. There have been a steady stream of reports that controller systems for things like industrial tools or traffic systems and the like default to highly insecure configurations or even have hardcoded root accounts in them. Then there was Stuxnet, which specifically targeted SCADA systems. And once security researchers had their attention drawn, they began finding all sorts of crap that suggests systems either have been compromised or they are easily compromised. All indications are that the software for such industrial equipment is several steps behind the best practices employed by larger software firms these days. That we have had so few major disasters has not been because these systems are bullet-proof, it's because most of the effort in attacking systems has been motivated by greed, wherein hitting consumer systems is more likely to result in information that can be readily turned into cash. As more state actors get involved and their form of cyberwarfare becomes focused on doing actual damage, the rate at which reports emerge about compromised industrial systems is only going to increase.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:51 am
by dizt3mp3r
In all my years working with those systems I have never encountered even one virus. I encountered one trojan but I wrote that as a security test.
Backup and security address most fears, if I lose my XP systems I restore them.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:03 am
by Z98
And how many of the people clinging to XP share your level of care in managing their security? How many have absolutely no idea how to perform properly when it comes to system administration and their machines are already part of a botnet that's spewing out spam or participating in a DDOS?

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:32 am
by EmuandCo
Almost noone. I had a friend of mine yesterday who I had to explain how to remove the good ol' SweetPage crap off of his PC. Most users are that way. You have no uninstall routine == you are lost.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 11:02 am
by dizt3mp3r
@z98 - that's quite correct, most users might well be a little less knowledgeable. Still it doesn't alter the fact that XP can be run securely and well with some good knowledge. Lack of knowledge about security and backups makes even the most up to date system vulnerable.

I have been infected by crapware and viruses in the deep past but almost always on the most recent o/s, the vector for attack has always been the fact that the current flavour of the o/s is so widely used and therefore any hacker's time is better spent coding for the most popular system. They also seem to get some form of kudos from hacking the latest version.

Attack vectors/problems for the older o/s are almost all discovered and there will be a massive community of users/past users who have encountered all/most of the errors and know all the solutions. I have both NT5/NT6 systems and I feel far more secure with the stable XP systems that I can secure and rebuild without issue in 30mins as I have backup and security policies in place. Win 8/9 won't go near me for years yet until all the crap that they deliver, vulnerabilities, bloat, functionality loss, microdolt (sic) excretions (metro) have all been understood addressed and/or removed.

In truth I don't think that Microsoft's recent offerings are good enough to warrant replacement of the older XP o/s unless you have a really good business case. I am keeping two XP o/s systems running as a trial and because they are superb systems and incredibly productive for the user. I will however, decrease the internet facing side of their use and migrate that part of their functionality to a cheap tablet device.

Re: Companys still useing XP after it is dead

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 3:29 pm
by tomleem
I have seen a commercial for an online service that keeps ones not only running faster but also safer. They mention that they support Win XP. (I don't remember the company but I do remember the person indicating they support Win XP). :ugeek: