What is the longevity for XP?

[Skuzzy]

does nlite do windows 7 also?

There is a beta version of rt7lite available (when the site is not being jammed with users hitting the download page) which is specifically for Windows 7.

nLite might work, but I have not tried it with Windows 7.

[YamaRaja]

does nlite do windows 7 also?

There is also a program called Acronis that you can do single back up images or contininous back ups of your C: drive to a second HD if you have one.
It has you create a rescue disc that you boot to after a reformat and it rebuilds your C: drive back to the state is was when you saved the image.
It is very easy to use. It works with XP, Vista and W7.

I use it manually to create an image every 3 months or so (it over writes the prior one or creates a new one whichever you choose).
I find this better than a slipstreamed disc because you cant constantly updated it.

The very best is to do both. Create a slipstreamed install disc as a base install of your fully installed C: drive. Then use Acronis to keep doing periodic backups.

I am sure there are other similar programs, I have used this one for 3+ years successfully.

Yama

[Bizman]

Actually, there's a very good reason not to do it: not knowing how.  

As Skuzzy said, Google for slipstreaming instructions. I have used nLite and although it's quite easy to use, there's also a bunch of options to screw things totally (done that, too). I lately tried the Command line option for slipstreaming SP3 to my original SP2 discs, because nLite isn't free for commercial use. With the advice I found it was quite an easy task, although English isn't my native language. Also, someone has told me that the result using built-in Windows tools directly may be more accurate than using third party tools to run the same commands. There's less possibilities for typos in the coding that way.

[Rob52240]

that date in 2014 would be the earliest possible date for support to go away.  However XP was a bit of a benchmark in computing since it is the OS that was around during an explosion of business computer purchasing.  A lot of companies will continue to use XP for as long as possible and they will be making a big stink if Microsoft stops supporting it before enough of them are ready to upgrade.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

that date in 2014 would be the earliest possible date for support to go away.  However XP was a bit of a benchmark in computing since it is the OS that was around during an explosion of business computer purchasing.  A lot of companies will continue to use XP for as long as possible and they will be making a big stink if Microsoft stops supporting it before enough of them are ready to upgrade.

The vast majority of companies I know are migrating at full speed to 7 at the moment. Some have already done so. It's becoming rare to see xp boxes in a business environment. Most companies lease their computers - when the 3 year lease expires they move to win7 machines. The late updaters are just now ending their 3 year leases so there are still some left.

[Rob52240]

XP will still be in massive use for industrial applications.

Nearly everything I've ever worked with ran on a windows XP kernel or DOS.  Most need to be running service pack 1 to function properly.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

XP will still be in massive use for industrial applications.

Nearly everything I've ever worked with ran on a windows XP kernel or DOS.  Most need to be running service pack 1 to function properly.

Well those are a niche market anyway. I remember the problems that came with those already when moving to NT4/XP. Soon that stuff will get hopelessly outdated.

[Bizman]

The vast majority of companies I know are migrating at full speed to 7 at the moment. Some have already done so. It's becoming rare to see xp boxes in a business environment. Most companies lease their computers - when the 3 year lease expires they move to win7 machines. The late updaters are just now ending their 3 year leases so there are still some left.

That may be true among your customers and mine, too, but the world is a large place. Funny as it sounds, a worldwide company in 88 countries upgraded from Windows NT to Windows 2000 in their shops as lately as a year ago, at least in Scandinavia. The hardware was delivered to the shops, and the local shopkeepers don't have admin rights or even access to the Internet throught those rigs.

Long after Win98 was buried I read that it was still widely popular in Africa.

The leasing companies have to dump their old hardware somewhere...

[MrRiplEy[H]]

That may be true among your customers and mine, too, but the world is a large place. Funny as it sounds, a worldwide company in 88 countries upgraded from Windows NT to Windows 2000 in their shops as lately as a year ago, at least in Scandinavia. The hardware was delivered to the shops, and the local shopkeepers don't have admin rights or even access to the Internet throught those rigs.

Long after Win98 was buried I read that it was still widely popular in Africa.

The leasing companies have to dump their old hardware somewhere...

How could they do that? There are no win2000 drivers available for any current hardware.

[Bizman]

How could they do that? There are no win2000 drivers available for any current hardware.

Who said the hardware was current? Most likely they had bought it cheap from a leasing company, or some large company who upgraded their hardware, or some big bankrupt's sale.

[Skuzzy]

How could they do that? There are no win2000 drivers available for any current hardware.

You are assuming current hardware.  I still have a Windows 2000 box, at home.  Runs fine.

[Rob52240]

Well those are a niche market anyway. I remember the problems that came with those already when moving to NT4/XP. Soon that stuff will get hopelessly outdated.

What you call a niche market carries a lot more weight per unit than home computing does.  Anytime a product is used to make money, that product becomes a lot more valuable because you can't just up and change equipment without downtime.

All of my customers just continue to use old computers, and buy old computers when their fails.  The cost is usually too high to allow upgrading because upgrading a front end that resides on a computer usually means replacing all of the control system components so that $500 workstation won't do it's job unless we spend $200k on a new system since it won't work with the one they have.  My wealthiest customer still sources replacement electronics that are out of production from what I take out of rural schools that we retrofit.  All 80 or so computers on that network have been out of production since 1988 and to get the system to work with a XP front end we had to void the warranty on our own product to get it to work.

If you want a computer for an industrial application there are certain things to expect.
In my experience it's always been this:
1.  You may have to uninstall windows service packs
2.  You must be using a particular version of java that is no longer current
3.  You must be using a particular version of Internet Explorer that is no longer current.

[bj229r]

I'm getting dragged into the current decade with my new company...every pc they put out (control systems/graphical interfaces in jails) has Win 7 on it. Hated it at first---just seemed like they dragged all the icons around and plunked them in different places, and called it a new version. Now, I can at least competently operate it, and it DOES have a nice feature, which I've tested on job sites--has it's own hard-drive mirror program

[Masherbrum]

I'm getting dragged into the current decade with my new company...every pc they put out (control systems/graphical interfaces in jails) has Win 7 on it. Hated it at first---just seemed like they dragged all the icons around and plunked them in different places, and called it a new version. Now, I can at least competently operate it, and it DOES have a nice feature, which I've tested on job sites--has it's own hard-drive mirror program

I'm glad I switched to 7 Home Premium.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

You are assuming current hardware.  I still have a Windows 2000 box, at home.  Runs fine.

Usually when a large company migrates to a new OS it means getting new hardware in the process

The IT management of the company bizman mentioned has to be seriously inept if they skimp cost by getting junk hardware (at least for any desktop use). Desktop work productivity has been shown to increase so much with current hardware and large double screens that the investment pays itself off in a few months.