It doesn’t bother me if half the world still runs XP

I am an avid Reader of Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror. I usually agree with him. However, I must disagree with his hatred of Window’s XP’s continuing popularity. I don’t care.

Disclaimer: I still run Windows XP at home and at work.

So now that I’ve stated my prejudice, I’ll talk about a similar situation that does bother me, people that use MacOS9, and why thats a completely different story.

Why do I hate the, now very small number of, MacOS9 zealots? Because of their fear of change. I try not to hate them for their lack of appreciation for a true multi user OS based on unix and the mach microkernel. Most of them just don’t care. I could never convince a client that ran a SECURITY guard company who was a retired NYPD Detective Sargeant of the neccessity of passwords to SECURE computers. Most people want to use their computer to accomplish a task. These are the same people that take their cars to their dealer for maintance, and don’t question their dealers reccomended service schedule. All that being said, these MacOS9 people, at least the ones using Quark and Photoshop, need to realize that the newer versions of these packages will improve their daily workflow.  Grouped masks and the like transformed how most people use photoshop. I’m sure in the past ten or so years quark has improved greatly.

Now this excert from a recent coding horror article seems to sum up Jeff’s position quite well.

Thus, I’ve been following the development of Windows 7 with cautious optimism. It’s important to me not because I am an operating system fanboy, but mostly because I want the world to get the hell off Windows XP. A world where people regularly use 9 year old operating systems is not a healthy computing ecosystem. Nobody is forcing anyone to use Windows, of course, but given the fundamental inertia in most people’s computing choices, the lack of a compelling Windows upgrade path is a dangerous thing.

The thing is I don’t have any problem with anyone using a 9 year old operating system. As long as they are updating the software running on top of it regularly. @Crazygeekchick, whom I follow on twitter, spent a good portion of saturday installing all the Microsoft Software she regularly uses on top of a fresh windows 7 install. People that Windows Vista or 7 and never run windows update, install a third party browser, or use a non microsoft program for any of their tasks bother me. My friend that ran windows 2000 until forced to do otherwise to use the latest version of DirectX does not.

Running XP in this day and age is a purposeful decision. Running Vista is the easy thing to do. If Vista is what you want, due to UAC or WAS, go for it. However, if you hate Vista, use XP, or Windows 7, or Linux, or even Plan 9 from Bell Labs.