Chad Zink is a Senior Software Engineer at Pay Plus Benefits. Visit our site to find out more about Chad and the rest of our team!
Do you use Windows XP?
The Windows “eXPerience” (XP) operating system (OS) was first released on October 25th 2001 and is currently used by just over 44% of the entire market as of February 2011 (According to web analytics data generated by W3Schools). At its peak, in January 2007, XP had just over 76% of the market. This includes ALL operating system in use. I won’t bore you with more stats, but in summary a lot of people used XP and a lot of people still use XP. The question is why? Why would so many people still use XP when Microsoft has released two more versions of the OS and by many accounts Windows 7 is a superior product?
The answer may not be found in any technological improvements or cost to upgrade. Instead it may be that many people are just familiar with XP and are reluctant to want to change. In the past, upgrading your Windows OS was almost necessary to fix many of the problems that each version had. Once XP fixed most of the problems that prevented us from getting work done, why would someone want to upgrade to a different system? Often the truth is what we have with XP is “good enough.”
Windows 7 is actually much better software than XP and it is easier to use with less crashing. I could go into the features and benefits of Windows 7, but in the end you have to use it to really understand how much better it actually is. For those stubborn XP users who refuse to upgrade, there’s something exciting coming that may give you the motivation to keep up with technology. That’s right, if you hang in there a little longer you can make the leap over Vista and Windows 7 altogether!
Microsoft has been developing a new version, Windows 8, and it is now in early beta for vendors and manufactures to test. There is even a rumor that Windows 8 may be out before the end of the year! This new version of Windows will add features that we see in many electronic devices beyond the PC. It is rumored that it will have 3-D graphics support, instant-on capability, and even an app store. Microsoft must be drooling over the idea of another app store to compete with Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market Place. Furthermore, even the core hardware in Windows 8 may change. Another rumor is that Windows 8 could support the new ARM possessor’s found in many of today’s smart phones. That would end a fairytale marriage that goes back to the beginning of “PC” time of Windows OS and the x86 processor (a.k.a. Wintel – Windows and Intel).
It seems that Microsoft is moving on to the next phase of operating systems and hoping that XP and Vista fade away as they improve their OS to stay competitive with Apple iOS and Google’s Android. So after ten years of XP, users may be thrust into a new Windows “experience” that is much different than the system they are familiar with.
Here at Pay Plus Benefits our computers are about half and half between XP and Windows 7. But as a Senior Software Engineer I can definitely say that I’m looking forward to the release of Windows 8 and hope to get everyone onboard with the new technology. But I’m curious? What OS do you prefer and do you think Windows 8 will motivate you to upgrade?
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