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End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 10 Nov 2015, 11:01
by Jan Rysavy
Anyone using Windows Vista? We are considering to drop support for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista for next AS versions. Only Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 would be supported. Let us know.

From our web statistics: 0% W2K, 6% XP, 1% Vista.

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 10 Nov 2015, 16:18
by tukanos
The drop of support of windows 2000 && windows XP is only logical step as the support itself from Microsoft has ended.

From my point of view drop of Vista could be part of the drop as its EOL is coming in two years and also it was unpopular system to start with. (Vista's end of extended support - 4/11/2017 (which is now available to everyone))

As you wrote the logical way is to start from windows 7:
Windows 7 extended support - 1/14/2020 (available for everyone)

I'm just curious, what are the limitations for AS in VS if you would include the "obsolete" OS systems?

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 10 Nov 2015, 16:26
by SvA
What would this mean?
  • All future versions will not run on those systems anymore
  • New features will only be available on those systems
  • you will merely no longer fix issues confined to those systems
  • ...
Personaly, I suggest, you keep available a version accessible that is capable of running on those legacy systems and do whatever it takes to get going with unicode and UAC, non-filesystem based folder types (Media files, smartphones ...), tabbed interface, folder tree panels, and all the other stuff you need to stay competitive. I'd hate to some day have to search for an alternative just because Altap Salamander became too obsolete.

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 10 Nov 2015, 16:27
by AD7
I plan still use XP in my office.
So I ask to keep XP support. :D

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 10 Nov 2015, 21:18
by SelfMan
I see no reason to support the old operating systems. Those who want to use them can still use the currently available/OS compatible version.
Given Salamander's speed of evolution, you can drop the support just right now.
Some of my clients are still on XP, but they will move soon to newer Operating systems. (And no, I dont think Win10 is ready. its in a RC state at least)
My vote = drop it

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 05:26
by Yuriy
Why dropping that support? Does it take too much time or space?
It would be nice to have XP supported, as it is still being used (in difference from 2000 or Vista).

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 11:26
by tukanos
Yuriy wrote:Why dropping that support? Does it take too much time or space?
It would be nice to have XP supported, as it is still being used (in difference from 2000 or Vista).
My guess is that the main reason would be that you have to code the "old" compatible way to work on e.g. windows XP and you can't use the features available for the newer OSs. If Altap is going to revise the whole code they can also 'clean-up' the code while doing so, resulting in faster, leaner code hopefully with less bugs.
SvA wrote:What would this mean?
  • All future versions will not run on those systems anymore
  • New features will only be available on those systems
  • you will merely no longer fix issues confined to those systems
  • ...
Personally, I suggest, you keep available a version accessible that is capable of running on those legacy systems and do whatever it takes to get going with unicode and UAC, non-filesystem based folder types (Media files, smartphones ...), tabbed interface, folder tree panels, and all the other stuff you need to stay competitive. I'd hate to some day have to search for an alternative just because Altap Salamander became too obsolete.
I think having an older version available for the older systems is a great idea if you are getting rid of the Win XP.
SelfMan wrote:I see no reason to support the old operating systems. Those who want to use them can still use the currently available/OS compatible version.
Given Salamander's speed of evolution, you can drop the support just right now.
Some of my clients are still on XP, but they will move soon to newer Operating systems. (And no, I dont think Win10 is ready. its in a RC state at least)
My vote = drop it
Win10 will be eventually ready (my guess is in a year or so). It is wise to get AS ready before the enterprises & large organizations make their migration to this OS.

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 11:51
by ejor
Yes Yes drop 2000 XP and Vista
keep your code simpler and deliver new version faster, please ....

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 16:31
by Jan Rysavy
Such new Altap Salamander version would not run on unsupported systems. You would need to stay on old Salamander version on unsupported systems.

Making source code compatible only with Windows 7 (and newer) would be a big thing for us. For example complete rendering path is obsolete now (see alpha-transparent selection boxes on modern systems vs xor-cage in Salamander) and having to deal only with Windows 7 API would be great.

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 17:54
by tukanos
Even google is dropping their XP/Vista support in Chrome.

http://chrome.blogspot.sk/2015/11/updat ... pport.html

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 17:59
by Jan Rysavy
Good move from Google!

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 11 Nov 2015, 20:17
by therube
I use both XP, work, & Win7, home.

I have no intention of leaving XP, at work.
I have no intention of leaving Win7, at home.

Given that Salamander is relatively static, as it is, does most all well, I do not particularly consider the loss of future upgrade on XP to be a particular concern.

What I do at work & what I do at home are different, & I run into different "issues", where future upgrades might be of more importance, but I'm thinking on my XP end, upgrades would be of less importance (with the exception of multiple [> 2] tabs.)

(If/when new features are implement, might I change my mind, perhaps, but in general thinking not.)


Vista, don't use, but I'll just say I'm kind of surprised by the (seemingly) differences encountered between Vista / Win7 - from a programming standpoint (where many programs intend to drop support for Vista).

Win2K, I loved, thought it was the best OS out there - except for a few features (Fast User Switching, in particular) that came with XP. (Otherwise, I'd likely still be using Win2K.) But as it is Win2K is dead.

If dropping support allows you/Salamander to be more efficient programming/usage of, & facilitates the implementation of new, needed features, then I'll all for it.


If Salamander were my browser, & it was ending XP support, that would be a totally different matter.

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 13 Nov 2015, 09:16
by mdruiter
No!
I use XP (and Server 2003!) almost everyday, Vista only sometimes. It would be a PITA to have to carry around another Salamander version, next to the up-to-date x86 and x64 versions. And to remember the difference between the versions.
Much better would be to only drop support for some (small) features on older platforms. So where the OS matters, take a shortcut.

Aside: don't extrapolate download stats to the OS people use it on. I have Salamander on my USB stick and use it everywhere.

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 13 Nov 2015, 18:33
by tukanos
mdruiter wrote:No!
I use XP (and Server 2003!) almost everyday, Vista only sometimes. It would be a PITA to have to carry around another Salamander version, next to the up-to-date x86 and x64 versions. And to remember the difference between the versions.
Much better would be to only drop support for some (small) features on older platforms. So where the OS matters, take a shortcut.

Aside: don't extrapolate download stats to the OS people use it on. I have Salamander on my USB stick and use it everywhere.
Guys, I wonder how do you manage the security without any patches from the M$? You are not afraid getting any bugs along the way? Just curious... (At home I have win7 on one others are BSD & linux that are always up-to-date) @work we have win7 and all servers win2003 will have to be migrated to certain deadline (the only exception are citrix servers which have their own security handling).

Re: End of support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista

Posted: 14 Nov 2015, 05:49
by Yuriy
Windows XP is very stable! I use it in my office (where computers would not run anything newer anyway), and it is the 2nd OS on my home PC - I have less problems with it than will all updates on Windows 7. And yes - please keep it supported :)