Because I am a medical practice, I had to switch everything over to remain HIPAA compliant. Most of my laptops are running 8.1, I have two Microsoft Windows Surface micros running ELLO touchscreens, and 2 older boxes running 7. Really can't complain, except the cost was annoying. It's all gone well so far (knock on wood).

In my experience most people that deride Windows 8 have never actually used it. I have been on it since about a month after it's release and at this point I would hate to go back to Windows 7.

from the news reports, apparently much of the corporate world is still running XP. One report said something like 80% at the ATM's are still running on XP?

I just got this call yesterday at work:

me: Hello

Sanjay: My name is John and I am calling to inform you your computer is infected and has been for the last few days....

Me: Ahh he11 no. What am I gonna do? I'm screwed for sure. I gotta call my Priest...My mother...My...

Sanjay: If you have your credit card available...

Me: How the he11 did this happen to my Mac...

Sanjay: click....dial tone...

The phone scams are happening. Tell your friends and family to watch out for these slime-balls.

I got that same call.

I answered "what is a computer?" He hung up.

A bunch of nasty stuff designed to infect XP uses is reportedly on a lot of sites as of today.

Yahoo mail and Google are safe I'm told.

I'm going to limit my use on the Internet until things cool down a bit.

We have it at work and I have to know it to support it. I really don't like it as a corporate OS. I have no use for a MAC either, though an iPad would be nice for the flying apps.

And for the older generation that have only used XP for years it is different enough that it is hard to relearn.

These are just my preferences though. Some people like Linux as their desktop OS and that is fine if it works for them.

I have XP on 2 laptops and Vista on my desktop and a 2000 server. no plans to upgrade.

Right now I am on my Widows7 laptop. I am trying too find a good way to connect from here to my XP desktop without creating a problem there. Any ideas? Private network? VPN? So far I communicate with the two computers by exchanging files via thumb drive. A lot of plugging back and forth. there must be a better way.

I ran the XP upgrade advisor tool on some of the XP boxes here. It reported the hardware would work but I would have to re-install all the software I use.

Yea, that is a problem. Some have software that has been upgraded 10 times. Try to find a file I downloaded 10 years ago, and every upgrade since then just to get back to where I am.

Not yet. Announced but not part of 8.1.
I used a utility called Classic Shell when I upgraded the MIL's computer. At 85 and almost blind she does not want to learn a new interface.

Horrific user experience. I own a touch screen laptop with Windows 8. Awful to use. Not recommended by this regular user.

Start is Back works well also for getting the start menu and desktop back. 8.1 almost has this.

I have some computers running XP. They're behind a firewall & have Norton on them. Don't use them to cruise the Internet. They just run specific tasks -- the software won't run on newer operating systems. I'm not particularly worried -- although I do have disk images should something happen. I'm more worried about a motherboard, etc., going bad & not being able to replace it.

XP at work (state worker so it will be months before any upgrade, they came, looked at my computer, and said they were ordering a new one... we will see)

Two laptops and two desktops at home, laptops and one desktop on XP, all too old to bother with an upgrade to 7 or 8. My desktop at home is on Linux Mint.

I just installed Linux Mint 64 on a parts box computer last night and it is really fast and sleek.

Windows 7 sorts of sucks, 8 really sucks, and 8.1 still sucks.................from what I've heard.

That leaves Apple or an Android based device for web-surfing while I hear the clock tick on my 5 year old computer.

I better get back to backing things up now.

The current ad circular from Staples shows they are now selling Lenovo boxes with Intel Pentium processor, 4Gb RAM, 1 TB HD, and Windows 7... reduced from $500 to $400. That is not a refurbed unit.

They have a wide selection of new and refurbed on their website with Win 7 on them.

pc with windows 7 | Staples®

Looks like they are being smart and responding to demand.

WOW. This is complete garbage. (8.1)

What is the point of a start button, that doesn't have a menu? :)

Time to install classic shell.