微軟停止支援 Windows XP邁入終點
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/4/11
2014-04-10 Web
only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/kisocci/ |
4月8日之後，微軟停止Windows XP的技術支援。微軟在2015年7月前還是會繼續更新在XP上運作的防毒引擎，但除此之外，XP的使用者都得靠自己了。似乎還有不少人仍堅持使用XP；NetMarketShare指出，全球約有28％的個人電腦仍使用XP，僅次於Windows 7的49％。
XP的使用者以小企業和個人為主，他們通常把升級視作花費高昂、可以晚一點再做的事，但也有不少人認為，各種強調XP系統弱點的說法，只不過是微軟和電腦安全企業的策略。
確實，軟硬體製造商帶動了一定程度的FUD（恐懼、不確定性、疑慮），希望能讓使用者更換軟體和硬體。FUD在1999年「千禧蟲」之時相當有效果，現在似乎仍舊有效；全球個人電腦銷售在2013年第3季逆勢上升，較前一年同期增加了5%。
即使如此，許多XP使用者還是不願升級，他們相信，只要持續更新防火牆和防毒軟體、改以Chrome作為預設瀏覽器，並停用Java和Flash，就什麼事都不會有。他們只對了一半；這麼做當然可以減低風險，但只要出現一項安全漏洞，使用者的資料就有可能遭竊。
XP系統中毒的機會，是新版Windows系統的6倍，因此，升級還是比較好的選擇。想留在微軟陣營的，就不必考慮Windows 8或8.1了，它們的硬體要求太高，也被許多人視為Windows Vista災難重演；若不想改變使用習慣和硬體，最好的選擇就是升級至Windows 7。
比較有冒險心的人，則可以升級至Linux的諸多版本之一。Linux免費、硬體需求較低，而且駭客通常不會攻擊Linux，因為安裝的人並不多。在數百個Linux發行版本中，最適合取代Windows XP的有三，亦即Ubuntu、LinuxMint和Zorin。
然而，轉換作業系統自然得面臨妥協。能有看起來、用起來都像XP的介面當然好，但最終還是得看新作業系統的應用程式品質。如果是從XP升級至Windows 7，這不是什麼大問題，但改用麥金塔或Linux系統，問題就會比較大。文書處理、電子郵件、瀏覽器等軟體一定找得到，但最讓人懷念的，通常是那些難以取代的小工具。只有在離開Windows平台之後，使用者才會真正體會到Windows平台是多麼地豐富又多元。（黃維德編譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
Difference Engine
End of the
road for Windows XP
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: April 10, 2014
Apr 9th 2014,
18:00 by NV | LOS ANGELES
THIS week sees the
last batch of bug fixes and security patches that Microsoft will issue for
Windows XP. After April 8th, computers using the 13-year-old operating system
will continue to work just fine, but all technical support for XP—whether paid
or otherwise—will cease. In a change of heart, Microsoft has at least agreed to
continue issuing updates for its Security Essentials malware engine, which runs
on XP, until July 2015. Apart from that, users who continue to rely on the
thing will be on their own—at the
mercy of mischief-makers everywhere.
More than a few
seem determined to stick with it. According to NetMarketShare, a web-analytics
consultancy, Windows XP runs on 28% of the world's PCs, making it even today
the second most popular operating system (surpassed only by Windows 7, with
49%). Over 400m machines will therefore be left exposed. Included in that
number are 95% of all the cashpoints (ATMs) in the world. Windows XP and
Embedded XP also power a lot of cash registers.
At least most
banks, stores, petrol stations and other retail chains have plans in place to
migrate their point-of-sale (POS) terminals from XP to Windows 7 or Linux. Many
have delayed doing so for financial reasons. POS terminals cost anything from
$15,000 to $60,000 apiece, so they tend to be left in place for ten years or
more. Besides, new rules will soon require the American versions of these
terminals to be upgraded anyway, so that they can handle the more secure
"chip-and-pin" credit cards popular in Europe.
Most of the
holdouts are small businesses and individual users. Typically, they view the
job of upgrading as a costly chore that can be deferred (it ain't broke, so why
fix it?). But more than a few consider all apocalyptic talk of XP's
vulnerability as scaremongering by Microsoft and computer security firms.
It is certainly
true that hardware makers, as well as software firms, have encouraged a fair
amount of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), hoping to scare XP users at least
into replacing much of their software, if not their hardware as well. Older XP
computers can run Windows 7, though at nowhere near the spritely rate of newer
ones. Few older machines, however, can run Windows 8 or 8.1 without upgrading
crucial components. And the FUD factor worked in 1999, when the mythical
"Y2K" millennium bug spurred a world-wide computer-buying spree. Once
again, FUD seems to be working. Global PC sales have been in free-fall
recently, as people embrace iPads and Android tablets, but the downward trend
went into reverse in the third quarter of 2013, in which sales were up 5% from
the same period the previous year, according to analysts at Citigroup. And this
was not just a one-off. Year-on-year sales in the fourth quarter of last year
were up 10%.
Even so, a lot of
XP diehards refuse to be swayed. They believe that as long as they keep their
firewalls and anti-virus software up-to-date, use Chrome as their default
browser instead Internet Explorer, and disable Java and Adobe Flash, they will
be OK.
They are half
right. Doing so will certainly reduce an XP machine's risk of being infected or
hijacked. But all it takes is one security breach for a hapless user's
identity, social-security and credit-card details to be stolen. Scans of
real-world installations show that XP systems get infected six times more often
than computers running later editions, including Windows 8. Better by far to
upgrade and have done with it.
But to what? For
those determined to stay in the Microsoft camp, forget Windows 8 or 8.1. Not
only do they demand too much in the way of hardware, both have been been
written off as a debacle as bad as the Windows Vista disaster. With their
touch-based design, they require users to do things differently from the way
they are familiar with. Microsoft is now hurrying out Windows 9 in a bid to
pre-empt a mass migration to Linux or Macintosh.
The best choice
for those reluctant to change their habits and their hardware is to upgrade to
Windows 7. This can be made to look and feel exactly like Windows XP, while offering
far better security. Unfortunately, because this upgrade leaps a
generation—avoiding the ill-fated Windows Vista—the migration is not as
straightforward as one might hope. If precautions are not taken, the process
will wipe out all of a user's software applications, program settings and data
files. These have to be moved from the hard-drive to a separate disk
beforehand, so that they can be transferred back intact after the installation
is complete. Fortunately, there is a handy software tool, well worth its $30
price, that simplifies the process (see "Say farewell to XP",
September 6th 2013).
One of the
attractions of migrating to Windows 7 is that it has a "compatibility
mode" which lets users run all their legacy software. People can also set
up a "virtual machine" on a Windows 7 system that will emulate their
old Windows XP environment, quirks and all. But be warned: running Windows XP
on a virtual machine inside Windows 7 does not magically make XP more secure.
It will still be as vulnerable to exploitation as it was when running
undisguised.
An alternative for
more adventurous souls is to upgrade to one or other of the many flavours of
Linux. Not only are all the popular Linux distributions free, they make fewer
demands on hardware and run faster. They are also mercifully free of infection.
For the same reason that Macintosh computers were once thought immune to
viruses and other malware, hackers tend to leave Linux systems well alone:
their installed base (1.5% of all computers) is too small to bother with.
Of the hundreds of
Linux distributions, three stand out as solid replacements for Windows XP. The
most popular by far (when all its derivatives are taken into account) is
Ubuntu, followed by LinuxMint. Both stress ease of use and offer desktop
environments that Windows XP users will feel comfortable with. And both will
work on even relics from computing's iron age. All they ask for is a
700-megahertz processor, 512 megabytes of random-access memory, five gigabytes
of hard-drive space and a graphics card capable of just 800-by-600 pixels of
resolution. On anything better, Linux will run rings around comparable Macs or
Windows machines.
The third
stand-out, an interesting alternative to Ubuntu and LinuxMint, is Zorin. This
has gone out of its way to emulate Windows XP. For computer users fleeing
Microsoft, Zorin OS 8 could be the perfect drop-in replacement for Windows XP.
Unfotunately, Zorin's installation process is not as idiot-proof as those baked
into Ubuntu and LinuxMint.
Babbage's
favourite Linux of all remains LinuxMint, because it comes with all the
"drivers" and "codecs" (including various proprietary ones
that open-source purist Ubuntu refuses to include) that let it function without
a hitch straight out of the box. He recommends newcomers from the world of
Windows adopt the version with the Cinnamon interface—XP users, in particular,
will feel right at home.
Rather than junk
XP altogether, though, Babbage suggests users set up LinuxMint alongside
Windows, in a separate partition on their primary hard-drive. LinuxMint even
asks users whether they want to do that during installation, and will then
automate the process for them. With a dual-boot machine, users can then choose
which operating system to load at start up. Having the two operating systems
installed side by side provides access to the file systems of both. It is also
a handy way for people to find out which one they prefer. If they do not like
what they see, they can simply delete LinuxMint and go back to Windows XP. When
upgrading his XP desktops to Windows 7, Babbage ran both operating systems side
by side for several months until he was happy with the result. He did the same
when moving a couple of old laptops from XP to LinuxMint.
Inevitably,
though, the move from one operating system to another—whether to Linux or
Macintosh or simply to a later version of Windows—entails niggling compromises.
Having a user interface that looks and feels like Windows XP can be comforting,
but ultimately it is the quality of the applications available for the new
operating system that make or break a migration.
That is not so
much a problem when upgrading from XP to Windows 7. It is bigger one when
migrating to Macintosh or any Linux system. Equivalent programs for all the
usual applications—wordprocessors, e-mail packages, browsers, media players and
the like—can invariably be found. But it is the handy little software tools
that are often irreplaceable and missed the most. Only when moving off the the
Windows platform can users really begin to appreciate how rich and diverse it
is.
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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