For Windows

[Robert J. Hansen]

On 3/13/2011 4:02 PM, Jerry wrote:
> So I am naive, then what are you? You CC'd me even though I 
> specifically stated that off-list replies are basically ignored. In 
> following with my basic procedure for unwanted e-mails like that, I 
> reported it as SPAM.

Well, it's not exactly "unsolicited," given it's a response to something
you said, and it's not hawking any good or service so it's hardly
"commercial."  I think you're going a bit overboard here.

> Now, XP sales were terminated on October 22, 2010, with support for 
> service pack three to end on April 8, 2014.

True, but more or less irrelevant.  Consider how long it's taken to kill
IE 6, even when Microsoft's been making IE 7+ free downloads for as long
as can be imagined.  XP is going to suffer much the same fate.  I would
be absolutely gobsmackingly astonished if XP dropped below, say, a 10%
market share before 2015.

Remember what it was that killed Vista -- the perception that XP was
good enough and nobody needed what Vista was offering.  Now consider
that Windows 7 is basically just a rebranded, remarketed Vista.  It
seems highly premature to declare that XP is on its last legs.  It's
transitioned into the end-of-life stage, yes... but there's no knowing
how long it'll hang on.

> It has been superseded by another product which works differently.

It has been superseded among the bleeding-edgers.  There are still a lot
of people who insist on using OE on the grounds of, "I don't want to
have to learn a new user interface."

> To continue to actively support a piece of dead software is a poor
> use of one's time and resources.

I would agree with you if I thought XP and OE were dead.  I don't.