By Han Shasha (
) 19:35, April 10, 2014Email|
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Comments twitter facebook Sina Microblog reddit It’s the second day that Microsoft discontinued its support service for the almost 13-year-old Window XP operating system; however, no news about data leaks has been read whileexperts predict that black hats will breach the “nude” computers at the first minute whenthe company stops its service.
Because of its wide-range influence, the action has grabbed world’s attention, of course,including China. And the author has noticed one interesting comment, that is, Windowsstopping its XP support service signifies the decline of the superpower which tried to leadthe world in all aspects.
Is it true?
The reason for the company to its XP support service is popularly recognized that theoperating system is so old that it needs upgrade. "It's an old operating system," said TomMurphy, director of communications for Windows.
Launched in 2001, Windows XP was an important release which has been run on 30percent of the personal computers in the world, excluding ATMs and other embeddedsystems. And more than 70 percent, or over 200 million Chinese users run the system.The iconic wallpaper “Bliss” may be the most recognizable picture in the world.
"Think of the cellphone you were using in the late '90s compared to what you see today.XP doesn't do the things we expect from our PCs or devices today," said Tom Murphy inan interview. Market is ruthless. Like an old man needs medical maintenance, thecompany has to spend large sum of money to fix all the patch holes.
Although it’s hard to find what the annual “surgery fee” for the XP is, it can be calculatedwith the “Custom Support” expense paid by the Netherlands and United Kingdomgovernments. The UK government was reported to pay 9.2 million US dollars for the one-year extension support service.
With the rise of Android and mobile Internet, XP is losing its technology landscape. Butthat’s not the sign of decline. It’s just innovation and upgrade. The death of one product,and even the death of one big company cannot not be considered as decline. As asuperpower in the technology sector, the United States always refreshes itself with someold technology giants tumbling and new ones standing out. Its status is strengthened notby the monopoly control of long-lasting big companies but by continuous upgrade andinnovation.
Recently, Bill Gates was quoted in Rolling Stone as saying “Innovation in California is at itsabsolute peak right now. Sure, half of the companies are silly, and you know two-thirds ofthem are going to go bankrupt, but the dozen or so ideas that emerge out of that are goingto be really important…innovation is the real driver of progress.”
As many business starters say, the key lesson from Silicon Valley’s continued prominenceas a global epicenter of creative output is that old products and companies are phased outand recycled into the framework for successful new products or companies.
（Editor：GaoYinan、Yao Chun）
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