Upgrading Windows XP machines?

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Eric H — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:48:48 GMT

I want to run Vista x64, but my problem is VPN access. My company (like many) uses only Cisco with IPsec.

Cisco does not have an IPsec VPN client for Vista x64. Cisco AnyConnect runs on Vista x64 but only support SSL tunnels. I have seen hints that AnyConnect will support IPsec in the future, I am waiting as fast as I can.

Any ideas?

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

DJ Hutch — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:11:15 GMT

I guess it greatly depends...

I mean, in my personal business...

my servers are still primarily running Windows 2000...and everything is doing fine...DCs are Windows 2000, App and Storage Server is Windows 2000 based....

My workstations are all less than five years old and all run Windows XP Pro, just finished the upgrade to SP3...and everything is great...

For Vista, my work machine, which is not the top of the line, but has 2Ghz processor and 2 gigs of ram surprisingly cant do Vista, it just hangs for no reason...which has just lagged my migration for vista for I would have migrated a year ago for if I didn't have so many issues and time 'trying' to fix issues, even with SP1, for a machine that should run it just fine...

By the end of this year I'm planning a migration to just "phase out" the older hardware, my main PC's will probably be Vista, and when the XP machines die, etc, they will be then replaced....

The Servers..Same Story... might get the boost to Windows 2003 server, but getting new servers with 2008, and running them in mixed mode with the older servers in the same instances until all the old guys die out or retire...

I'm completely fine where I am...I like both XP and Vista, and Windows 2003 R2 and Windows 2008 Server, but for now, I'm still running the network with Windows 2000 servers and Windows XP Pro Workstations...

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Marc F (Disk4mat) — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:41:08 GMT

I didnt plan on upgrading to Vista but bought a new PC a year ago with Vista Prem. At first the transition was too great so I reverted to XP. Since XP didnt perform much better I restored Vista Prem. and invested some time learning about its new features.

2 weeks later I purchased Vista Business upgrade and was able to do a clean install. I thought it was worth the $ for features such as Shadow Copy, Complete BackUp & WinFax. Also I didnt want the entertainment features of prem. Call me crazy.

The Vista Business upgrade was well worth it and I have no regrets. Its exactly what I needed and the benefits would be too much to list here. Now, I cant imagine getting the amount of work done in XP that I achieve in Vista on a daily basis.

Timing had worked out, that I was buying a new sys anyway. So upgrading the OS on that machine wasnt a consideration.

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Bob Muir — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:43:47 GMT

Current mb/chipsets/video (from about Nov07 onward) work fairly well with Vista and I'm buying systems "downgraded" to XP-Pro for my clients who aren't ready to experiment with a new interface.

The next step IMHO should be to 64-bit. Then we can take advantage of the larger address space. If MS is smart, they'll make the next OS 100% 64-bit with legacy applications virtualized.

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Andrew Hill — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:27:13 GMT

Four years ago, the company that I work for switched from Novell/Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003/XP. So when Vista came out last year we decided to hold on to our existing hardware an extra year and upgrade to Vista this summer. Our normal hardware replacement cycle is 3 years. This allowed the IT department to run Vista for about a year, work through any issues, and wait for drivers and support to become available for applications. Now, we are in the process for rolling out all new server and workstation hardware. We're also taking the opportunity to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 for DCs, file servers, SCCM and SCOM; other application servers will come later. So far, there are no known issues for us with either Vista or Server 2008 to prevent us from going forward with our upgrade plans.

The business driver for the Vista upgrade is purely security and management related as it really doesn’t impact the business user experience. In addition, we want to take advantage of our software assurance agreement and upgrade to the latest versions within a reasonable time after release. Why pay for it if you’re not going to use it? We also wanted to coordinate the upgrade with a new hardware cycle to gain the efficiency of only touching the machines once.

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Fernando B — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:37:15 GMT

I'm using vista since last year's march, it cames with my new laptop. Well, I'm a windows user since version 3.0.

I'm really happy with vista, I belive that the hardware requirements are proportional the same when all other versions of windows were released. Also the compatibility issues.

My opinium is people don't want to spend money for something that is not absolutely NEW, Vista looks like XP with some annoying functions that were not present before.

My system works fine, without crashes, I put it in standy-by every night, so a restart is rare. I'm using a lot of software, even Beta versions, without a single problem.

I'd like to say to Micrsoft that vista would be delivered as XP evolution, not marketed as a new one. And that is necessary to create a really new operating system, with new concepts, assuming that internet is the platform not hardware anymore.

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Keith Combs — Sun, 18 May 2008 07:37:57 GMT

Ok, I get the picture. You hate Windows Vista for older hardware and to a large extent, programs you would have to test and run on it.

Anyone running it on new decent hardware? Anything good to say about it there?

Are you running mixed environments of old and new machines with each OS? I understand for small and small medium businesses that's unlikely, but what about when you have several hundred PCs up? Are you buying new machines with WinXP or flattening them and installing WinXP? What happens when we stop selling Windows XP in a few weeks?

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

Bob Muir — Sun, 18 May 2008 06:40:35 GMT

There is no compelling reason to upgrade an XP box to Vista. None, nada, zilch. And lots of reasons not to do it.

1. Performance

2. Compatibility with existing hardware/programs

3. Cost of the upgrade

4. As Adam mentioned, the cost of boosting the hardware.

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

PaulB — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:14:12 GMT

We have a small network of 40 pc's on an SBS 2003 R2 server. We also only upgrade to Vista when new workstations are purchased as old one are retired or more staff are added. The upgrade license is around £170? Can't justify that over 40 machines.

re: Upgrading Windows XP machines?

manelze — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:44:30 GMT

Jesus! You just found that out now? I thought it was as clear as water that no XP customers are "upgrading" their PCs to Vista because Vista is just too expensive and old machines just can't handle it, even with AERO, UAC, search, etc turned off. I'm not recommending any upgrades from XP to Vista to my customers, and in a surprising twist, no one is actually interested in upgrading either.