Thread: Forced obselesence

Yes I know Windows XP is not supported anymore , has not been for some time now.

However Windows 7 , 8 , 10 etc cannot work with some equipment , but as the equipment is VERY expensive to replace or in a couple of instances there is no replacement .

So I am in the process of forcing Microsofts offerings to run under Linux in VM, this will give me an operating system which I do not need to change for at least five years if ever .

My thoughts are, so what, if others want to follow the "majority" , I prefer to use what works and is reliable , its a bit like the Dept of Transport saying that you cant use a Mack V8 Superliner for road transport because it blows smoke from the exhaust when you stomp on the acellerator.

To me the people who blindly allow the slow erosion of our freedom of choice are as big of a problem as it gets .

Michael

is it an isolated system or must it be updated

owen

I have a newish computer with Windows 10 and an old laptop with XP. XP is a lot easier to use; however, I'm not sure it's because XP is better platform or simply something I'm used to. In the same vein, the latest Word and Paint have also changed, and definitely not for the better. The latest Word is nothing but a PITA. It may be my imagination but it seems each new offing from Microsoft is slower than the preceding.

The machine of most concern is the laptop which is used in the field on almost a daily basis as the Smartphones and tablets cannot be fitted with the appropriate connections to equipment in most cases, eg serial, network and equipment specific connections which are on PCMCIA Cards.

The "new" operating systems are not able to operate a the required "slow' speeds either .

There is a lot of equipment in use which has to be maintained as the multinational companies and banks etc have quite a lot of money invested in that gear and often it is not a practical or economical to just change something because of a software developers whim.

I work with some of these companies to load software which has been written in house to circumvent the other offerings which are not as stable or field proven.

Michael

If some of you out there have serviceable laptops with XP and are using it as a terminal for older programs to talk to cars via OBD, and to Coms equipment, and machines with legacy controllers etc, be wary about getting rid of your laptop too soon.
There are problems sometimes with getting drivers for older plugin devices which will run on a new laptop with Win10, and some older programs have Help Files which can be difficult to access.

I am no expert, but have had trouble with vehicle coms, and coms equipment so far with my new 64bit Asus with Win10 (great laptop, but...)
It is mostly fixable or you can have workarounds, but it is time consuming and a bit obtuse at times.

Maybe buy a new laptop, and experiment with your situations, before XP disposal.
I guarantee that you will learn a lot, just by the hiccups and probable difficulties.

mike

Originally Posted by Mike4

There is a lot of equipment in use which has to be maintained as the multinational companies and banks etc have quite a lot of money invested in that gear and often it is not a practical or economical to just change something because of a software developers whim. l

It depends if the computers are connected to networks.

Old OS and software is relatively insecure because all the hackers know where where most of the the holes are. Newer stuff is not always that secure either it's just that the hackers haven't found the holes yet. The first thing my son does when interrogating systems as part of his day job in IT security job testing is look for older systems and software as he knows their security limitations and these pathways often allow him to get significant control of networks. Just one NT server left on a government department network enabled him to access the network in just a couple of hours. Just about every network he has tested and reported on results in recommendations involving removal of old systems. If businesses and orgs used the latest OS and software, updated regularly and raised security awareness amongst staff he reckons he would not have much to do.

He reckons banks and financial institutions are the most difficult to get into because they usually use the latest systems while Building control systems are amongst the easiest.

I'm not defending the constant merry-go-round of updating - just saying what the security situation is. I use a 5 year old laptop and I had a 7 year old mobile up until a few months back.

I have long put off installing the latest Win 10 update because when I checked on the issues involved, as I always do now, the work arounds required to just get it back to usable state was listed on several web sites as substantial. A lot of the stuff I have got rid of will be put back in play, some more permanent and harder to get rid of. Some of the stuff I want will require more effort to reinstate.

It is a ridiculus situation where MS is forcing people to do what they want in the way they want for commercial reasons. They should just be fixing the security issues and allowing the users to decide what else to change.

I had a stab at Linux some years ago, but could not get my head around it. I hate updates and the problems they cause. I updated my NAS a few years ago with a supposed stable version. It caused massive issues and I finally discovered that there were some issues that had not been discovered. I spent weeks trying to sort this out and nearly bought a new NAS. I will never buy a Netgear one again. File transfer was excrutiatingly slow. I finally reset back to a previous version until they got it sorted. Wierd thing about this NAS. I can do a backup of the data quicker by connecting an external hard drive to my computer and copying via the network than directly to the external hard drive plugged into the USB connection on the NAS. It was taking 14hrs to do a full backup of 0.75G or so. I have it set to do incremental backups only via the NAS USB, but this only involves adding new files and does not remove any files so the HDD fills up with files repeated everywhere. No wonder I don't like doing things the way manufacturers etc want me to. It has got to the point that I google search before I change anything.

Dean

Most PC users forget that no one can own a copy of a Microsoft OS so it's not yours to do what you want with it in perpetuity. All you really get is a limited right to use the OS under specific conditions set by Microsoft that Microsoft can alter at any time. When you purchased that EULA you agreed to this.

It also says specifically

Microsoft reserves the right todiscontinue any Internet-based services provided to you or made available to you through the use of the Product.

I wonder how many user have actually read an EULA?

Originally Posted by BobL

Most PC users forget that no one can own a copy of a Microsoft OS so it's not yours to do what you want with it in perpetuity. All you really get is a limited right to use the OS under specific conditions set by Microsoft that Microsoft can alter at any time. When you purchased that EULA you agreed to this.

It also says specifically


I wonder how many user have actually read an EULA?

I have read a few. They are often intentionally made so huge that it is almost impossible to take it all in, even if you understood the language. This is one of the times I do a google search to find out if there are any hidden nasties etc.

I hope I purchased more than just a EULA. A EULA is not worth the cost of the paper it is not written on.

Dean

Michael,
anything stopping you running XP in a virtual machine under Windows 10? Might be easier on your users than going to Linux?

Well, Mach3 runs under WXP and under W7. The latter goes just fine.
It won't run fully under W8 and W10 because MS won't let it install the Mach drivers it needs. They are 'unsigned'.
It won't run on a 64 bit machine anyhow.

If I could get Linux to run Mach3 and AutoSketch. maybe under WINE, I would be delighted.

Cheers
Roger

just came back from saturday morning catchup with my son where he told me of his latest covert IT security testing. Large govt department with thousands of IT users. Lots of older Windows servers plus hundreds of accounts with easily guessed passwords.

Within 24 hours he had access to their entire system including building management controls. The department supposedly has automated and real (peopled) IT security monitoring but many days later there is no indication he has been found out.

This is very disturbing bearing in mind what has happened around the world in the last 24 hours.

And if you want to blame government ineptitude then bear in mind the IT operations for this government department are contracted to a private company - lowest tender of course.

What has happened in the last 24 hours? I don't watch the News

Originally Posted by NedsHead

What has happened in the last 24 hours? I don't watch the News

'Biggest ransomware outbreak in history' hits nearly 100 countries with data held for ransom - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I refuse to use online storage for a number of reasons. The most important to me is that it will not be secure. Nobody can keep data secure as long as it is connected to the internet. There is always someone who can access it illegally. Keeping my data on my own network is more secure because there is no incentive for anyone to hack it. I have good security on my network. I don't use WiFi and my router has all ports possible closed or stealthed. I laugh when I read about celebrities complaining of private videos being hacked from the cloud. What a joke.

What your son told you Bob, is of no surprise to me at all. A large organisation and a government one at that. The US military is getting hacked all the time. If it can happen to them?

Dean