The sooner we rid ourselves of XP the better, that pile of crap should of been gone years ago.

Or do like me, upgrade the machines with Linux (Mint). :)

Most users get new Windows versions only with new PCs, preloaded. Quite often a HW upgrade is needed anyway when moving to a new Windows version, esp. from WinXP to Win8. E.g. my desktop PC didn't seem to have any working audio drivers for Windows 7, which I found a bit surprising. At the same time, Mint Linux had fine driver support for it, and otherwise also it would appear to me new Linux versions are more compatibly with old PCs, than new Windows versions are. Which just points even more that installing Linux on that old PC might be a better idea than trying to cram the latest Windows into it.

Naturally I also have a retro-gaming XP machine, which isn't used for daily internetting, but only for playing old Windows games. Heck, I even have two, no, three, Win98SE retro PCs for the same purpose.

nice, too bad not many games are ported to linux..
you use cinnamon or xfce with your mint?

Well, if I have to upgrade (no) thanks to M$, it'll be to 7. Windows 8? They can [censored]. Still, won't be my primary OS - Ubuntu 13.04 has that honour (and a steadily increasing number of games for it, too).

wonderful :)
+1

cant remember the last time i updated xp, just use antivirus or format once couple of months , you are good to go

More and more games are being ported to Linux these days, including Tropico 5 and Metro: Last Light. By the time Windows 7 ceases to be, the situation will be even better. I am certainly quite optimistic. Even GOG should be supporting Linux by then!

If you mean new AAA games, that doesn't really matter as it is old PCs we are talking about. :) So even if I could install Windows 8 on my >10 years old desktop PC, I am pretty sure it still can't run Crysis 3.

As for older Windows games, by the reports many of them are actually easier to get running well under Wine, than under new Windows versions. You never know.

But I don't use Linux/Wine much for that purpose either, that's why I have the retro-PCs running WinXP or Win98SE. But if you still want to go online with the old PCs, Linux is a good option to make them secure internet boxes again, for free.

I currently have Mint running on three different PCs (two of them are old laptops, naturally I don't have that many full desktop PCs lying around). One of them is using xfce, and I think other one is using cinnamon (IIRC). Can't even remember what I selected for the third. :)

Why do people still use XP? I understand if they don't wish to switch to Win8, but 7 is everything XP is and more. And better. They didn't use Win95 in 2005 did they?

Personally, if I were Microsoft, I would instead release a final service pack that basically reads 'So long, and thanks for all the fish', that tidies up and optimizes the code, thanking users for using the operating system well beyond its service date.

Yeah, they called it Service Pack 3

The smart ones used NT :)

As Future_Suture said, more and more games are getting native Linux ports these days - we're even seeing games from some big developers/publishers getting Linux releases, such as Metro: Last Light and Tropico 5. Plus compatibility in Wine is quite good & always improving.

I use Mint as well (KDE edition)

Yes, also steam announced porting games to linux, so now will be more and more games coming.

I always felt that KDE is a bit of a resource hog, sluggish for me.
KDE it's still great because of all the configuration options.

I do like XFCE, Mate, Cinnamon too.
Before Windows 8 installer deleted my partitions i had dual-boot win7 and Mint 14...

It's amazing people think Microsoft has an obligation to support its 11 year old, 3 versions old operating system.