Support for Windows XP is ending soon

We run into these issues at my office using old DOS program and programs that are still 16 bit.  Here is my suggestion:  take your XP off the internet and run it.  The reason you want to keep an upgraded OS has more to do with the security of having Microsoft support and the security patches they keep releasing to keep your system safe than with the fact that XP will no longer work.  It will work, you just can't count on it continuing to be secure, especially if you access the Internet with it.  If you have a laptop running Windows 7 you could move anything that requires Internet access from the XP unit to it and keep just your old DOS stuff on the XP computer. 

My 2 cents - hope it helps!

You called it a DOS partition, so, do you boot to DOS?

Ever tried a virtual machine or do you need direct hardware access for these DOS applications?

Help. New, simple guy here. My major concern in upgrading my Windows XP system to whatever is the preservation of a  partition I have on on my current system to run DOS programs (yes, I am old) and the ability to run those programs. These programs were self-written for a specialized purpose many years ago; one in FORTRAN (a scientific programming language for those who have never heard of it) and the others simple DOS language macros. The former is particularly important.

Can someone advise how to do this? Or should I just keep my Windows XP as it is in order to run them? I don't need to use the computer on which XP is installed for much else as I also have a Windows 7 laptop.

Thanks.

Windows XP was released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001 and released to the general public on December 31, 2001.  When the *extended* support cycle ends (was originally slated to end December 31, 2011) on April 8, 2014 - that will be 12 years, 3 months and 9 days of support - the type of which that is now ending (*extended*) is mostly just patches/updates provided for free.

Windows XP stopped shipping (as an OS they could pre-install on new computer systems) on October 22, 2010.  That was 3 years, 4 months and 17 days before today.

Between January and April 2012, Microsoft published several articles and began encouraging system administrators to begin preparing to migrate to a newer OS.  They estimated it took between 18-24 months to properly plan for and deploy a new operating system that would replace Windows XP.

As of now, just under 30% of the desktop operating systems being reported are running Windows XP.  That is the second most of any given operating system (even when combining versions of other operating systems) with Windows 7 being the most. [ http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0 ]

Windows XP Support Lifecycle: released 12/31/2001, extended support until 4/8/2014 (>140 months)

[ http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3223 ]

Windows XP Embedded Support Lifecycle: Public release date 1/30/2002, extended support until 1/12/2016 (>160 months)

[ http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3220 ]

*expect same outrage at this 'unexpected date' as currently seeing for the desktop edition but in a different clique than many people probably are a part of.

So I find it difficult to believe - given all the facts such the extension of the *extended support* of over two years granted back in late 2006/early 2007, the announcement of the end many times over the decade+ Windows XP has been in existence, the fact that three operating systems (one as or more successful by percentage-in-use) have been released since its initial release and the changes in the reality of use of computers/desktop computers - that it is Microsoft's reputation that SHOULD be at risk here

• even if some small percentage (less than 30% at most) thinks so.  What *is* at risk is the data on the computers after the given end-of-extended-support (and easily discoverable - especially for the ones who likely make up the largest portion of that less-than 30% chunk [banks/ATMs, hospitals, retail sales]) date passes (April 8, 2014) - and it didn't need to be.

This article is about what Microsoft should do about Windows XP and the risks to Microsoft's reputation if the end support for Windows XP: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9246837/Perspective\_Microsoft\_risks\_security\_reputation\_ruin\_by\_retiring\_XP