On Fri Mar-21-2014 21:16, Daryl Stout (1:19/33) wrote to ROGER NELSON:

 DS>   The thing is, on down the line, they'll do the same for the
 DS> ENDING of support for Vista, 7, 8, etc. as newer operating systems
 DS> come on board. Then users of the current "new systems" will face
 DS> the same fate as those who have XP now.

I envision a day soon to come when everyone will be forced to use a 64-bit
OS and 128-bit is just around the corner.  That isn't necessarily a bad
thing, but it's going to break a lot of programs we like to use.

 DS>   And, what Microsoft fails to realize is that not everyone is able
 DS> to purchase a new computer, new hardware, new software,
 DS> etc...mainly because of the cost. What about the small businesses,
 DS> or those on fixed incomes, who can NOT afford to spend well over
 DS> $1000 or likely much more, to replace the hardware and software??
 DS> Are they just "screwed and left out in the cold"?? Food, shelter,
 DS> health, and utility bills are a lot more important to these folks
 DS> than to satisfy Microsoft's corporate greed.

They all will have to "get with the program" or be left behind. 
I don't like it anymore than you do, but we all have to realize that
technological advancements don't stand in place or we'd all still be using
4.77 MHz processors.

 DS>   Also, many legacy applications that work fine under XP, will NOT
 DS> work in Vista or above.

I haven't run across that yet.  My main gripe being I can't run DOS
programs full screen in W7.  I don't like typing in a window.  It's an
invitation for too many mistakes to be made.

 DS>   Microsoft's deal of putting "virtual XP mode" into Windows 7 was
 DS> an attempt to get "die hard XP users" to go ahead and upgrade.

A friend recommended that I try that out, but I don't think it will work
the way I want it to.  I haven't tried it yet and I should, so I won't say
anymore about it now.

 DS> However, after the April, 2014 security update for Windows
 DS> XP...whether it's the virtual mode of Windows 7, or Windows XP
 DS> itself...there are NO MORE UPDATES OR SUPPORT. So, they really
 DS> screwed the XP folks who upgraded on that.

Yep!

 DS>   I did NOT use Internet Explorer EXCEPT for Windows Update. So,
 DS> after that last update, I'll DISABLE Windows Update (it won't work
 DS> anymore, anyway), and not even worry about Internet Explorer, as I
 DS> never did like the way it was set up, anyway.

I use both IE and Firefox and am comfortable with either one.

 DS>   Many folks will either just stick with XP, or go to Mac, or
 DS> Linux, which is FREEWARE. I realize you can't run as much on Linux
 DS> as you can on Mac or Windows, but it's better than throwing all the
 DS> computer stuff in the trash, and going offline altogether.

Also you have to compile programs in Linux as most of the stuff is not able
to be used right out of the box and for DOS programs, you need a DOS
emulator.
Mac is too pricy.  The one machine I'd have liked to see programmers
writing for is the Amiga -- no 640k limit as the RAM was contiguous.


Regards,

Roger 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+