Death of Windows XP

I’m at the age now where it seems like everyday I receive an email about the death of a good friend or acquaintance. Tonight while you’re checking out your nightly newscast I’m certain you’ll learn that some significant figure in history or life has kicked the bucket too. It’s scary. Maybe it’s just the times. However, losing someone you love (or hate) is a tough deal to handle. In the first case, how do you replace a person who has made significant contributions to society? In the later case, well, thank God they’re gone!

Currently, I just got word that a dear, dear friend of mine is terminally ill with a few days to live… Microsoft Windows XP. Now, if you’re a Mac user I’m sure your sympathy will not go so far as to sharing bereavement with the rest of us who are die-hard PC users. (Recent TV commercials will bear out this truth). Nevertheless, to know that such a friend will no longer be around is going to be a monumental loss to friends and foe.

I’ve been a PC user ever since I entered the digital world. It was when Adobe 3.0 was king. In fact, I cut my teeth on the software by talking a class at McFatter Vocational Technical Center. (I think that was in the year 20 AD). That class was the ONLY time I’ve ever used a Mac. So, the Windows’ operating system runs deeply through my veins. What PC user could forget ALL the operating system upgrades, downgrades, or fallbacks we have endured over the years? I still get violent when I think about the ME operating system that Microsoft dumped on us years ago. Yet, I’ve stayed loyal to the “Microsoft god” and despite the OS follies we’ve experienced over the years, Window XP has been one of the best PC operating systems.

So, 2 weeks ago when I decided it was time to purchase a new laptop to do my digital editing at home, the first thing that I did was to take it to my computer guy and demand he take Vista off and replace it with Windows XP Pro. I’d heard and read many uncomplimentary things about the new OS. Besides, I had no desire to purchase new software or spend hours downloading and installing patches. Oh, my, gosh. Well, the OS transplant didn’t go as well as I expected. It seemed the bios in the new Toshiba laptop wouldn’t allow Windows XP to access certain drivers; therefore I lost use of my Function keys and my wireless card.

After spending days and hours on the phone with tech support at Toshiba and Bellsouth (and not getting any where), I was struck by the fact that it might be a good idea to have someone build me a laptop from the ground up with the Windows XP operating system. I called my sales rep at H&J Electronics and discovered that no one does it locally. Rats! So, I hit the Internet to do some research and discovered several companies that could configure a Windows laptop to my specifications. M-Tech Computers and Voodoo Computers were two companies I found. That’s when I learned that Windows XP is on the Endangered list.

Windows readers listen up. If you plan on using the Windows XP in a present or future computer you’d better hurry up. Last year Microsoft discontinued the shipping of new computers with Windows XP and the end of July (2008) no new-boxed versions of the software will be sold either. (Do I hear taps in the background?)

To finalize this article, it looks like for those of us who have avoided the Vista plague as long as we could, eventually it’s going to overtake us like the Andromeda strain. As I watch my good friend XP take it’s final bow, I have just one comment: “Banzi!!!! May you rest in peace”.

[First they took away my Kodachrome---now Windows XP]

Willie Hill Jr.
Long Time Friend of Windows XP