Re: Forced to support forever
Most people purchased XP with a new PC, if the machine is still running then so should the OS.
This should include any patches required to fix fault/security flaws present at time of purchase and the lifetime of the OS should be dated from the last fix.
If MS had got rid of all the problems with XP then they could reasonably step away and say "that is as good as it gets" but they never fixed the problems instead they just released a new OS with the same problems which they will only fix once they are abused.
In the UK atleast car manufactorers are required by law to maintain parts for the expected lifetime of their products, why should MS be different?
If the code for XP was public domain once MS abandoned support then the customer could source their own repairs however since MS just prettied the old OS up and resold it as a new product then the code remains proprietry and unobtainable therefore only MS can fix it.
Ultimately this means that MS operating systems are unsuitible for any application where the customer would expect the product they purchased to last as long as the hardware.
Thus MS should automatically be excluded from any state funded endevour, MS are fine for gaming but if your want a professional product then look to a professional operating system that will continue to support hardware through each revision such as your flavour of unix.
That MS are notorious for dropping hardware support between OS versions is well known in the industry and these tax payer funded projects should never have allowed MS in let alone continued paying them to support a broken OS.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
