XP BOOST

Why our infrastructure still depends on Windows' 24-year-old OS

- Phil Iwaniuk

Little did Big Billy G know, millions of computers would still be running XP in two decades.

With Windows 10's imminent discontinuation on October 14, many of us have suffered a very peculiar indignity lately: being told by Windows that our puny, pathetic top-spec gaming PCs don't meet the requirements for Windows 11.

Sure, it can run Assassin's Creed Shadows or Avowed in 4K with the softest of soft shadows enabled, and still hit 120fps. On a good day, it can even load an article from a local news website without Chrome crashing to desktop. But run Windows' latest operating system? Forget it.

In reality, for most users with high-spec hardware who are coming up against a compatibility wall for Windows 11, the problem is likely as simple as turning on TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, rather than a fundamental lack of componentry. But while we contend with such humiliations, we should also keep in mind that if we're still using Windows 10 and decide to stick with it, that's probably not the end of the world. After all, significant parts of our everyday life are still running on Windows XP.

NOUGHTIES BUT NICE

In 2017, more than three years after Microsoft's support for XP ended, 75% of US Department of Defense computers were still running on Windows XP, 98, or even 95. That's according to Daryl Haegley, program manager for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy.