If there's a lesson to be learned in these torrid times, it's that civilisation is fleeting – but Windows XP is eternal
- Reference: 1594024213
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/06/bork/
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[1]Where were you in 2001? Things have changed a bit in the decades since [2]Windows XP first nosed its way out of the Redmond gates. A good deal more stable than its predecessor, Windows Me, the OS no longer tottered atop MS-DOS and brought the NT kernel to the masses.
Users embraced XP, which upped the minimum hardware requirements to a then mind-blowing 64 or 128 megabytes (but would sniff at more than 4 gigabytes in most incarnations). Despite its well-documented security failings, XP lingered throughout the Ballmer and Vista era at Microsoft before the company finally ended extended support in 2014.
And yet here in Cuenca, Ecuador, at the Mariscal Lamar International Airport if we're not mistaken, Windows XP persists, balefully staring down at passengers waiting to board the aircraft that are still operating.
It appears to be the Professional edition. Because, after all, an airport is hardly the place for amateur hour.
The photo was snapped by Register reader Assaf, who was flying to Quito in order to travel on to New York City. "Flights in and out of Ecuador are still few and far between," Assaf told us, noting that his was one of only two flights operating that week.
Those worrying that the South American country might be a little behind the times need fear not. Our reader spotted Windows 7 lurking on the ageing Dell Optiplexes of "the far more up-to-date Quito and Guayaquil airports."
Assaf also regaled us with a frankly hair-raising story of his flight, which involved a pair of prosthetic legs, a woefully unprepared airline and an accidental emission which rather trumped this hack's own [3]Blood, Snot and Fear .
Still, in these uncertain times we find solace where we can. While it may be the computing equivalent of beloved, but aged and incontinent, family pet, Windows XP continues to linger, long after Cuenca should really have said goodbye. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2001/10/25/winxp_buying_intentions_you/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2001/04/22/winxp_activation_what_happens_under/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/07/blood_snot_fears_ignite/
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
That's a big 'IF', but assuming someone has done their job right I would agree with you.
As you say, as long as it's not on the network then it's not really a problem.
I decommissioned an NT4 box that was running the site voicemail at the beginning of this year. It's only external connectivity was communicating with the onsite PABX via a pair of 4 port modems imitating phone lines in a very, very old application. It ran 24/7 from ~1997 to 2020. In that time, it required one replacement PSU in (IIRC) 2007. After that, it had a yearly dust to keep it in good condition (I think a decades worth of dust did for the first PSU) and it ran pretty well.
My additions to the setup was configuring it to logon automatically after power failures (it wasn't on a UPS) and having a script that ran that automatically started the voicemail application if it rolled over and died, which it did usually one every few months in it's last few years due to the hardware having started getting somewhat defective.
In a funny note, the replacement VOIP system is universally considered to be a step down in functionality, usability and flexibility compared to the 23 year old system it replaced.
Tell us the story
of the prosthetic legs and the rest of the flight.
Re: Tell us the story
The way I hear it they didn't have a leg to stand on.
"long after Cuenca should really have said goodbye"
Well, if we imagine that XP is being used to control screens and has no possible connection to the Internet, then it should be okay, no ?
It would be no worse if I had a standalone XP machine in a corner of the office without any network connection whatsoever. Sure, it's XP, but it's invulnerable from remote attack, so, who cares ?
Not the successor to Windows Me
At the time, Microsoft had two operating system streams...
Those that ran on top of a DOS kernel - Windows 3.1(1), Window 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me. The more stable (allegedly) platforms which used the NT kernel so Windows NT, 2000, Vista, XP, 7, 8 and 10.
Mine is the one with the MSDN subscription in the pocket
Re: Not the successor to Windows Me
Surely it went 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10. ISTR 2000 was the successor to NT4, and XP the successor that merged the DOS (aka Me by then) and NT (aka 2000 by then) lines into one. Vista tried to then move forward but had too many issues with legacy use, mostly sorted by the release of 7. Having got everyone (mostly) happy, MS needed 8 to stir things up :)
Re: Not the successor to Windows Me
You're forgetting Windows 8.1. But I really wouldn't get into it too deeply. There have been terabytes of forum storage lost to "windows version sequence" discussions in the past! (All kicked off by "what happened to Windows 9?" chats as I recall. Possibly even back as far as "why is it Windows 7?")
Re: Not the successor to Windows Me
From a consumer point of view, XP is the successor to Me. Power users and businesses generally used NT, every day consumers had 9x.
That's cute but you are wrong!
"before the company finally ended extended support in 2014."
Virtual versions of XP and embedded Windows XP got patches for a few years more.
If it's not internet-connected, and access to the network is well controlled, it will probably work better than newer versions of Windows, and it will save them money on hardware costs. Hardware that can run XP fine is plentiful and dirt cheap. Just go on ebay and snatch a stack of ex-corporate Core 2 desktops, and you'll have machines that'll probably work away on small tasks like a display screen until the heat death of the universe.