Gadgetory

Windows XP was a software Colossus a version of Windows so popular it became a double-edged sword for Microsoft the support for XP finally ends adventures in tech stakes a fond look back at the last of the great operating systems developed under the codename whistler XP was the result of Microsoft merging home and business software projects into one platform it was built on the foundations of Windows NT instead of old-fashioned DOS and hits shop shelves on the 25th of October 2001 two days after the first iPod went on sale these were heady days for Microsoft it had an iron grip on the PC market the first Xbox was about to be released and nobody knew yet that the iPod would hurtle its biggest rival back to the forefront of the tech scene happy days indeed and for the millions of us still using Windows 95 98 or ME Windows XP was a proper step forward Microsoft took an electric sander to Windows filing off every sharp corner and pouring paint all over every menu an icon the Start menu was stretched to 2 columns it became easier to burn CDs and you could switch users without quitting all your programs newcomers benefited from a soothing tour feature that walked you through the interface it was more secure than Windows 98 though could be prone to the odd virus and certainly wasn't above occasionally crashing causing you to lose all your pride sorry about that there was one more XP feature we all loved well not so much of a feature more of a JPEG the iconic bliss wallpaper is a photo taken by one Charles O'Rear and is a photo of a hill in California's wine country in 1996 array was on his way to see his girlfriend when he took the roadside snap which was bought by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum you can visit the beautiful Bliss Hill yourself using Google Street View as long as you don't mind shattering disappointment XP was well received Sina gave it four stars praising the new design which works just as well for novices as it did for hardcore users Microsoft boasted that in its first three days windows xp sold 300,000 copies two months later it was 17 million XP was the OS of choice as computer sales steadily grew with PCs getting cheaper and more widely available by 2006 it was estimated that 400 million customers were using XP which was great news for Microsoft sort of by the time Vista arrived in January 2007 Windows XP had been in the spotlight for more than five years customers and businesses became entrenched unwilling to move to a platform that needed more powerful hardware and featured security pop-ups so annoying that they could hobble even the most futuristic operating system today Windows XP is still reckoned to be running on a third of the world's pcs an enduring popularity that forced Microsoft to extend support the company's new problem is recreating that success Windows XP harked back to a time when our operating system defined your computing experience today so many of the services we love are available on phones TVs or even in our cars making the OS we choose steadily less important and sapping the motivation to upgrade or change an operating system of XP significance may never be seen again how will Microsoft react only time will tell but even as we stride forward we can fondly wave back at Windows XP