Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Lord Avalon on August 25, 2025, 02:03:53 am

Title: Win10 is about to go Unsupported in October, but There are Older Versions in Use
Post by: Lord Avalon on August 25, 2025, 02:03:53 am

"Still booting after all these years; The people stuck using ancient Windows computers"


"CTRL+ALT+DEL, but make it forever. As technology marches on, some people get trapped using decades-old software and devices. Here's a look inside the strange, stubborn world of obsolete Windows machines.

Earlier this year I was on my way to a checkup at a doctor's office in New York City. As I rode up to the 14th floor, my eyes were drawn to a screen built into the side of the lift. Staring back was a glimpse into the history of computing. There, in a gleaming hospital full of state-of-the-art machines, was an error message from an operating system released almost a quarter of a century ago. The elevator was running Windows XP.

Windows 95 celebrates its 30th birthday on 24 August 2025, and this year is the 50th anniversary of Microsoft as a whole. The company may not have the cultural cachet it did when that hospital lift was installed, but after a couple of decades playing catch-up Microsoft is back on top. The tech giant has been the first or second most valuable business on Earth for the better part of five years. Today, Microsoft is betting on AI, but as it dumps tens of billions of dollars into bleeding-edge technology, some argue that one of Microsoft's most enduring legacies is the marks it left on society long ago.

Since its launch in 1975, Microsoft has penetrated digital infrastructure so completely that much of our world still relies on aged, sometimes obsolete Windows software and computers, chugging along and gathering dust long after they first booted up. For people stuck using these machines, the ghosts of Windows' past are an ever-present feature of daily life."

Full article at BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250516-the-people-stuck-using-ancient-windows-computers)

ATMs, some Deutsche Bahn train displays, some remaining massive LightJet printers, etc.