One thing we are considering at work, and I'm considering in the studio, is disconnecting the XP 
machines from the network, basically freezing them as-is and using them until the hardware fails. At 
work, there are certain programs I must use that are very old and won't run on anything beyond XP. I 
do not wish to spend a lot of money and re-learn something that was already hard to learn the first 
time (specifically, digital mapping software). We also use a version of Quark for publishing our 
products that would be costly and need re-learning to "upgrade" or replace. And, I publish our books 
in Microsoft Publisher, and there is no way I'm going to re-make all my templates and styles in some 
new software. Life is just too short.

Under this scenario, files move from the XP machine via a "sneakernet" of a USB fob. An extra layer 
of PITA, but much cheaper and less PITA than re-learning how to do everything.

Just writing this confirms to me that the best idea is just disconnect the XP machine from the 
network and use it until it dies (hopefully, coincident with my retirement time). I can easily do my 
communicating on an iPad or even move other tasks over to a new MacBook or Windows laptop.

Life is just too short to relearn how to use a damn computer!

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arthur Gaer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Audio workstation recommendations?


> Well, if you moved to Macs you could run WinXP in a virtual machine (Parallels Desktop, my 
> preference, or VMWare Fusion) on the Macs themselves and thus still have access to the XP software 
> running on a "real" WindXP operating system.
>
> There's still the danger that the virtual XP could have security compromises as well.  At least 
> the virtual machine isn't sitting directly on the network and you can throw up various levels of 
> protection between the virtual XP and the outside world as well.  You can also create frozen 
> images of a known working system/software combination, so if the machine ever does get infected 
> with malware or otherwise get trashed, you can roll back to a known working set OS/software 
> combination.
>
> All that being said, I wouldn't count on using WinXP within a Mac virtual machine as a reliable 
> way to do high quality audio and other real time sorts of operations.  There's just way too much 
> going on between that older OS and its virtual access to the actual Mac hardware to depend on that 
> working to professional standards.  Though for less hardware dependent and real time applications, 
> like MS Office, etc it seems to work just fine.
>
> Arthur
>
> On Jul 16, 2013, at 3:38 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Yes, agree about being FORCED to "upgrade" when Microshaft stops doing security updates. At both 
>> the studio and my other company, we're not sure what we're going to do, but we already know we'll 
>> now have to budget lots of money for needless computer changes in 2014. There is very serious 
>> thought and talk about just moving to Mac, the idea being that Microsoft has now diverged from 
>> our best interests. What we'll do about legacy XP software is anyone's guess.
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Gaer" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 2:28 PM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Audio workstation recommendations?
>>
>>
>>> Hi Tom,
>>>
>>> If you or anyone is still using WinXP you should really try to be rid of it within the next nine 
>>> months. That's when Microsoft will remove all support, which most importantly means security 
>>> support, for XP:
>>>
>>> http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/endofsupport.aspx
>>>
>>> "After April 8, 2014, there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid 
>>> assisted support options or online technical content updates..."
>>>
>>> If anyone's XP equipment talks to a network in any way, you'll want to replace it, upgrade the 
>>> OS, or keep it entirely disconnected from the Internet from that time forward.  I can only 
>>> imagine the security holes the hacker community is keeping in their pockets until April 9, 2014. 
>>> You really don't want to find out what those might be.
>>>
>>> Personally I'm also a big advocate of Macs as well, enhanced security being one significant 
>>> benefit.
>>>
>>> On Jul 16, 2013, at 1:21 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> To be honest, if I had the funds to get rid of all the legacy WinXP aspects of my studio, I'd 
>>>> go Mac today.
>>>
>>> Arthur Gaer
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Senior Systems Manager
>>> Harvard University
>>> Department of Mathematics
>>> Science Center
>>> 1 Oxford Street
>>> Cambridge, MA 02138
>>> 617-495-1610
>>>
>
>