This makes me chuckle. If I want to have Windows 3.11 on my connected PC, I will, because that's my fucking PC and my fucking decision.

I haven't updated my WindowsXp since Service Pack 3. Sue me.

I know how to check if my system was compromised, thank you very much.

edit: the stupidy of your comment may be described by the fact you just said 15% of the internet users to go offline permanently:

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

Ubuntu is easy to use, but there are distributions that are even easier to use such as elementary OS and Manjaro. Out of those two, I recommend Manjaro for gaming due to its seamless graphics driver and kernel updates and it being a rolling release.

rolling release is dangerous game... (LTS is braindead outdated) better try chakra with its half-rolling release model... bleeding edge apps AND stable core system at the same time no ugly compromise required: (http://www.chakra-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Half-Rolling_Release_Model) or maui-project (http://wiki.maui-project.org/System#Fundamental_things_wrong_with_packages)

Beside that, Ubuntu is a good choice because of a serious deskop focus & ressources for achieving this goal (they also plan to introduce Chakra like capabilities in the future).

Just like it's Microsoft's "fucking decision" to not support a decade old OS. Freedom for everyone!

It's not quite as bleeding edge as Arch, as the developers test for compatibility and security issues for a period after the software has been released, ensuring that no breakage will occur. Last time I tried Chakra, it didn't have up to date graphics drivers which put me off significantly.

Of course. Did anyone said anything otherwise?

sure, If you want an "every thing toally bleeding edge (but potentially broken)" system, as you are willing and able to fix the mess, "rolling release" is the way to go for you. But not for an newbie.

Like I stated, that is not the case with Manjaro whatsoever. It's not totally bleeding edge (it's not Arch). The Manjaro team really takes care to make sure stuff works.

Manjaro might really try their best and also your experience might indicate there was no serious incident up to know for your setup and use case. But this is not a proof that it will continue like that, with a rolling release model and and non trivial amount if packages and dependencies, a distro can't prevent a regression and serious problems with such small testing time windows & so many changes. It's a question of time and statistic when a serious incompatiblity arises.

Or to elaborate this further, a full rolling release model has the disadvantage that all packages needs to be tested on comaptiblity to each other etc. A half-rolling rolling release model significantly reduces the work & testing dimensionality for a distro as the independent domains are much smaller (Core + each app)... therefore the statistical propability drops seriously for a broken state of the complete system or apps.

Well if you acknowledge that I'm not sure what the problem is. The OS is so old now they are retiring support. If you want to keep using it you should be offline, for safety reasons. That's all I was saying.

So you are saying 15% of the internet users should be offline, and that's just ridiculous. I don't need to keep my trust in Microsoft to keep myself (relatively) safe, I have other means to do that.

And I'm not really staying on XP by choice. But I will not go offline either.

A fine choice and the same one I made more than a year ago now. :D

I was just considering whether I am ready to say goodbye to XP permanently yet or not. I've kept it installed in a virtual machine using Parallels for just two games that run with less fuss in XP than they do in Win7 as far as I know and those are: the original StarCraft and the first Age of Empires game. It turns out that both of those run fine with Wine on a Mac. So that means I can say goodbye to XP now. It served me well for many years but I no longer need it for anything.

You know what's funny though? I haven't deleted the virtual machine yet. Here I am, a Mac user now and I feel a little sad letting go of good old XP forever.

Something I wonder about for those wanting to keep using it is, what happens when you try to do an install after they end support? How will it be able to validate itself? I think it goes into crippled mode automatically after 30 days if you don't validate it online doesn't it? If that is right then XP really is dead next April, if it can no longer be installed. I cannot imagine Microsoft removing the validation and key check, etc.

Well, the fact is, the only real technical thing Win 7 has over XP is allowing for more RAM and processors to be usable, the rest of it is just very minor UI and convenience stuff. The reason people still use XP is because nothing much has really changed in the operating system since then, so you can't blame people for sticking to someone tried and tested.

You could argue that Windows XP was as far as Windows (code wise) could go.

Also fuck MS for dropping support for 16-bit applications, I hope Steve Ballmer and his family burn in eternal hellfire for forcing me to run the Exile games via Virtual XP mode.

Really?

Apple are trying to drop 32bit support altogether (and core 2 duo users can't even run Lion even with their processors being 64-bit capable) and you're bitching to MS about dropping archaic 16bit support? Give me a break. For all the crap MS gets, they are FAR more loyal to their user base when it comes to compatibility than Apple and other companies are. Cut them some slack already.

Oh that's what you're mad about. Yeah man, risk whatever you like, your decision. I personally rely on knowing what not to click more than anything else too. It was generalized advice.