Comments on: Microsoft Should Make Windows XP Free To Tackle Piracy and Linux

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:02:43 +0000

I beleive they should make all wersions of windows xp free because it would make computers cheaper, give some people a taste of wndows for the first time and then eventually microsoft will have more paying customers for its newer OSs. microsoft should also make windows vista basic free to everyone. xp should become open source.

By: John

John — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 02:34:16 +0000

Microsoft should release XP second edition next year, and abandon the crap Windows 8 idea. which will be too inspired by Mobile phones OS.

By: rajesh

rajesh — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:06:14 +0000

like it

By: amiraj

amiraj — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:58:59 +0000

Microsoft can sell windows xp at token price also if they want

By: 1101doc

1101doc — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:06:01 +0000

Nope. what I think Microsoft should do is recycle XP. Rework it to include all the service packs and updates, include fixes for all "annoyances" that have cropped up over the years, integrate Geswall or Sandboxie, replace system tools with SysInternals utilities, add the functionality of many of the 3rd-party tools now availablble (like ERUNT, for example) and sell it all over again. I'd buy it. Let XP live again as XPX!

By: Chinmoy Kanjilal

Chinmoy Kanjilal — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:18:58 +0000

A free XP will cost MS, but an open source XP, will expose it, and destroy it. With poorly written code, patchwork and stolen code snippets all over it, MS will die saving the code.
Though, an open source XP will create XP distros as we have for Linux, and will establish MS as a strong competitor in the Open Source World.
That way, they will have things to learn and given the number of MS fanatics and Linux haters, an Open Source XP will see a very positive response.
It would also shut the FOSS MS haters, who would look like complete lunatics raising fingers at MS anymore.

@pallab, @Robert, cost for free support, true. But, that cost is near minimal compared to the gains it can make by continuing paid support for XP. The prime reason for this is that many institutions and offices using licensed XP with paid support are reluctant to upgrade their hardware. That way, they will continue using XP. My college uses XP in spite of having dual core desktops, which are quite capable of running Windows 7 with aero turned on.

By: Juscelino M. Acevedo

Juscelino M. Acevedo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:33:40 +0000

As much as I agree with your suggestion I think it would be a bad idea for Microsoft. The problem that I see is that if I was offered XP for free I would not purchase another operating system for years. Plain and simple, XP is great.

Also, with the bad taste of Vista, I feel that many people are not really inclined to purchase Windows 7 for worry of the same situation. That said, XP free will equal no sales for Microsoft.

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:28:53 +0000

No way. XP is already 8 years old, we don’t need it hovering around for another 8 years. It took far too long to get people off the 9x platform.

Releasing XP for free would only encourage its use. The industry needs to move forward and XP needs to die in the next few years.

The next step is 64-bit, and I’m hoping the PC manufacturers really push Win7 with 64-bit.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:45:13 +0000

They can’t make it free and non-open source, that would cost them a lot of money for support.
They also can’t make it open source, because a huge community will form and finally bypass windows (8, 9?) in both stability and usability.

Also, the WINE project will gain all source code and all windows applications will run near native on UNIX machines too.

I think this is not the way to go for windows, although I love the concept.

By: Pallab

Pallab — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:35:53 +0000

privacy? you mean piracy.don’t you?

XP is awesome (that’s what I am currently using on my old desktop). But remember that XP also had its share of hiccups. I remember people hanging on to 98 SE2 because it did everything they needed and was lighter and more stable.

SP1 helped matters and SP2 was awesome. XP got rock stable and became highly polished (almost not bugs) over the years.

Releasing XP for free would have ben an awesome move. But something like this requires thinking outside the box.

Possibly MS doesn’t want to do it because it would mean that they would have to continue to support XP (through security updates). If it doesn’t then expect them to get quite a bashing from the press. If it does then XP would actually start costing them.