Microsoft’s new “Windows XP End of Support” countdown timer suffers from just one tiny little flaw: It doesn’t work with Windows XP.
Support for the venerable Windows XP operating system is due to come to an end on April 8, 2014. This may come as a shock to some of you who, like me, are still rocking the Best Windows Ever, but the reality is that it’s already a decade old and that’s positively ancient as far as Microsoft operating systems go. Even though Windows 7 has been on the market for well over a year, most PC gamers haven’t really felt the upgrade pinch yet. But it’s coming.
As a friendly reminder of the need to get with the times, Microsoft has released a handy-dandy Windows XP End of Support Countdown Gadget that ticks off the days to its final, sad demise. There’s even a link provided that offers “guidance and free tools to help you migrate to Windows 7.” Useful stuff for sure, unless you happen to actually be using Windows XP, in which case you can’t use it at all.
That’s right: the official Windows XP countdown timer isn’t supported by Windows XP.
Am I missing something here? My initial impression was that this “gadget” was meant to tell us throwbacks that we only have 1.76 years left to upgrade to Windows 7 but now I’m thinking that it must be something else. Is it some kind of “gloat-ware” for Vista and 7 owners to look at while they cackle at those of us who continue to cling, caveman-like, to our old technology? Is it a ploy by Microsoft to lure us toward the current-gen OS by dangling cool stuff in front of us and then – whoops! – yoinking it away? Or is somebody in Redmond just jerking us around for the lulz?
Whatever it is, I’ll tell you this: you can have my Windows XP when you pry it from my cold, dead hands! Or, you know, on April 7, 2014. Whichever comes first.
Source: I Programmer
Published: Apr 21, 2011 10:21 pm