WINDOWS NT 4.0 near to the end

SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
edited June 2003 in Science & Tech
The Register reports that Microsoft's support for the ageing OS NT 4.0 is starting to dwindle, as we get nearer and nearer to the official expiry date of the once widely used piece of software.

From the beginning of July there will be no new hotfixes for workstation versions of NT 4 either. So from Tuesday the remaining (die-hard) NT 4 users will have to make do with basic online self-help support until the official expiry date of the product on June 30 2004.

For the whole report:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/31468.html

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2003
    It still amazes me to see how fast things move in the computer world. Last year's killer video card is now just another piece of hardware. The hard drive that had "too much" space a few years ago won't cut it any more. (Can anyone say mpeg and mp3?). And the OS your boss paid $500 for you to learn gets put out to pasture a few years later.

    Progress, I guess.


    Prof

    PS: If you haven't done so already, please give us your input in the “Utilities Discussion – Week2” thread under General Software!!! This week we are asking for your recommended programs in these categories: HD Speed benchmark, CD Drive Speed Benchmark, Video Performance benchmark:nudge:
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    I personally am amazed as to how many people/business's still use NT 4.0, hell, most of the staff computers at Uni still run it. I think one aspect of Microsoft essentially pulling the plug on an OS, is to kick people up the backside and remind them they need to upgrade.

    I am still shocked at the number of people I run into that still use Windows 95. I mean come on people. Windows 98, yeah ok fair enough. But 95!

    Yes progress is fast, but that's no excuse to remain in the past.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited June 2003
    Spinner said
    I personally am amazed as to how many people/business's still use NT 4.0, hell, most of the staff computers at Uni still run it. I think one aspect of Microsoft essentially pulling the plug on an OS, is to kick people up the backside and remind them they need to upgrade.

    I am still shocked at the number of people I run into that still use Windows 95. I mean come on people. Windows 98, yeah ok fair enough. But 95!

    Yes progress is fast, but that's no excuse to remain in the past.

    Its a matter of cost. I worked in my HS's Tech Office most of last year and I know that MANY of the systems are running 95 and the rest 98s besides the ones they have bought from Compaq or Dell have 2k or XP on them. They simply do NOT have the budget to upgrade all those systems. And many of the systms WONT run much more than 95 or 98. There are a lot of P 133s still running at school. Besides the new ones they are all Celeron 500s and lower. I dont know what the budget and I know they could do better things than buy 30 LTs with Centrino CPUs for the 5th and 6th graders but the money is not there for companies and schools.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited June 2003
    WIN NT is all through out my Workplace, along with Pentium200 64MB machines and slower. (some P-133 and P100 still around).

    If it works why upgrade. I bet as long as the needed apps remain at the Word Processing and Email level that NT will remain around for another 3-5 years.
  • TobinTobin Philadelphia, PA
    edited June 2003
    Hm. At work, we are trying to upgrade all NT workstations to XP by the end of the summer. Good timing, I suppose.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Tobin said
    Hm. At work, we are trying to upgrade all NT workstations to XP by the end of the summer. Good timing, I suppose.
    Heh, yeah, despite the fact some of those compys probably have no earthly business trying to run XP :p

    I think it's a hit below the belt that they start tugging on the rug a year before the exp date. But hey, it's Microsoft, so of course they can do as they please... :rolleyes:
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    I used to work for a company who had 100k plus NT desktops. Upgrading to another OS from that takes ALOT of planning. You can't just "roll-out" ;)

    What kinda puts people off are the number of companies who blew alot of money rolling out Win2k, only then to have XP Pro walked into the door with it's matching server family.

    Corporations don't just "upgrade" to the latest OS like core enthuiasts do. There is far too much money at stake if it goes south. Only upgrade if you need to. Infact, most OS installs NEVER get changed unless there is a fundamental hardware fault on the rig.

    Every new machine built for the small company I work for, is still having 2K as standard. No need for XP and it's more costly structure (plus, we are too small for volume license agreement and activating is a hassle, something ALOT of small business IT companies have complained about).
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited June 2003
    Shorty said
    (plus, we are too small for volume license agreement and activating is a hassle, something ALOT of small business IT companies have complained about).

    Small businesses are not the only group. Grrrrrrrr.
  • TobinTobin Philadelphia, PA
    edited June 2003
    General Keebler said
    Tobin said
    Hm. At work, we are trying to upgrade all NT workstations to XP by the end of the summer. Good timing, I suppose.
    Heh, yeah, despite the fact some of those compys probably have no earthly business trying to run XP :p

    Absolutely right, keebs - some (though few) are 350 MHz machines. *shudder*
  • TekGamerTekGamer Earth
    edited June 2003
    profdlp said
    It still amazes me to see how fast things move in the computer world. Last year's killer video card is now just another piece of hardware. The hard drive that had "too much" space a few years ago won't cut it any more. (Can anyone say mpeg and mp3?). And the OS your boss paid $500 for you to learn gets put out to pasture a few years later.

    Progress, I guess.


    Prof

    PS: If you haven't done so already, please give us your input in the “Utilities Discussion – Week2” thread under General Software!!! This week we are asking for your recommended programs in these categories: HD Speed benchmark, CD Drive Speed Benchmark, Video Performance benchmark:nudge:

    It has been more than a few years for NT, 2000 has been out for a few years, NT has been out for a long ass time. 2000 is now mature enough to completely take over for NT. I agree with MS choice. I think 2004 is to long, I would have phased it out by then end of October.

    Tek
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    TekGamer said
    It has been more than a few years for NT, 2000 has been out for a few years, NT has been out for a long ass time. 2000 is now mature enough to completely take over for NT. I agree with MS choice. I think 2004 is to long, I would have phased it out by then end of October.

    Tek

    Yeah but doing that just forces people/companies to upgrade when it's not really necessary. Just Microsoft's way of saying "It's about time you gave us some more money".

    I mean, as my previous post indicated I understand that NT 4.0 is really quite past it, but I do have the tendency to forget the actual cost of upgrading a whole company is massive. So part of me wants to see every PC in the world running the latest and greatest, but the other half wants Microsoft to add a bit more shelf like to its products.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited June 2003
    NT 4.0 is still the workhorse of the organization I work for. Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 runs on our IBM NetVista desktops (512 MB DDR, P4 2.0, 80 GB WDC800BB's).

    It's a nice step up from running WinNT4 on our older P2-400 Compaq machines, which just chugged like nobody's business.

    They are planning to roll out to Windows 2000 Professional, but are having difficulty as we have over 500 custom written applications designed specifically for Windows NT 4.0 SP5 (hence why we don't have SP6a installed).

    I should also note that there are over 10,000 desktop & notebook PC's in our organization. There is no "Easy" way to roll-out an organization-wide OS update. :)
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