I dont have any trouble with Debian 9 or Void on old 32 bit laptop.
It did struggle with Gentoo.
I think if you keep old Microsoft OS’s you have to freeze it. No updates, no new software.
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Not sure why Linux people mentioning it. Trauma from Windows updates interrupting workflows?
It’s really bad practice to stop updates, anywhere. Especially when using operating systems. And even more so in the past few months, where so many CVEs were found.
Windows, as the most popular end-user operating system, is often targeted by malicious software developers. So, not having patched a bad CVE can be very costly for a minority of users. The probability of getting hit is very low, but if you actually get hit, the damage is incalculable.
What Linux people recommending against updating Windows also don’t want to admit:
If you keep updating Windows regularly, updates rarely cause a problem.
The problem is created by users, who never update. Then, after a couple of months without updates, they are forced to update. They apply all the updates from the past 6 months at once. Then, they wonder why the updates broke something.
I mean, if you are updating the updates worth 6 months, then you are inviting your OS to be broken.
If you update regularly, it probably won’t break. At least that’s my experience and what millions of people out there using Windows blindly are experiencing.
This is of course not saying Windows is great or forced updates are great. No. Don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying, that it’s just unfair and unjust to complain about updates breaking something when you keep your Windows from being updated for 6 to 12 months and then, after such a huge update, they complain about something being broken.
If you don’t update Ubuntu for 2 years and then suddenly update it with every possible update, then it will break too, just as Windows would.
P.S.:
If I wasn’t clear enough on the security topic, I’ll bring it to a simple point:
If you are not updating your operating system (does not matter which one) for 6 or more months, your system becomes immensely insecure, making your either walk on egg shells when browsing the internet or having to endure the possibility of getting hit by a rare but very impactful malicious software or attack.
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I should have said… dont use it on the internet if you freeze it.
@Akito
Your are missing the big picture, all update channels, that I know of, are closed for XP, Vista, W7 and soon will be for W8 and W8.1. You might, if you have a pocket full of money buy some kind of extended support, but I doubt that is an alternative for the general public.
As for going online, there will soon not be a browser that will work on any of the unsupported Windows, if you do then surf at your own risk.
BTW I am surfing with an updated Gentoo with the ~amd64 keyword activated.
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Yes, what’s the problem with that? The update channels for Ubuntu 14.0.4, etc… are closed, as well.
No, why would I do that? These are ancient operating systems…
Have you updated Ubuntu 14.04 lately?
@Akito
Bingo, you cannot update if Windows Update will not download updates. XP, for example, uses IE8, which is the last version of IE ported to XP, will not even open, I do not think MS even keeps XP, Vista or W7 updates on there servers any longer.
Sure, I just recently did an XP Professional install on this PC, but I have the files needed to make this ancient OS work. Even found a 32bit Opry browser that works.
I ran Ubuntu 14.04, several years ago, I no longer use Ubuntu or Debian based Linux.
Yes.
What’s your point?
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Why? Why use an obsolete OS in the first place?
@Akito
Cannot answer for everyone!!! Why!!!
Why, do I run Linux, the same reason I run XP and W8.1, on this PC, and W7, on another PC.
Because I want too!!!
Same PC but I am updating W8.1 now.
Whether using an obsolete operating system is acceptable or not is not a matter of opinion. It’s objectively bad, if security updates are not provided. We can talk about whether it makes sense to switch from Windows 10 to Windows 11, because those two are still fresh enough to be on the table.
However, installing and using anything below Windows 8 is just bad. The only reason one might want to install these old operating systems is perhaps to play an old game offline, which is not compatible with the newer operating systems. However, such games usually run well enough under Wine or one of its derivatives.
Using such an obsolete operating system for daily tasks online is out of the question. It’s not a matter of opinion. One should not use those for everyday situations.
That’s comparing apples to space rockets…
Its called nostalgia.
I would play with old mainframes, or a PDP, or an amiga, if I could
Its just that you can with PC’s because of backward compatability.
And it does serve a purpose… if you understand what OS’s used to be like, you understand modern OS’s better
History is a great teacher
Great.
Sometimes I watch videos from the following channel.
https://www.youtube.com/c/Lazygamereviews/videos
A lot of nostalgia. Very interesting.
However, I doubt even that nostalgia freak would use a PC from the 80’s for everyday tasks…
Indeed. Watching the videos from the above channel helped understand and know the “behind the scenes” stuff. However, I would still not use any of those things for real everyday tasks.
No, its not for that.
Its like this
"Because I once programmed in assembler on an ibm1620…
I understand indirect addressing
Therefore when I use a pointer in a langusge like C
I understand what it does. "
You can probably come up with a better example
@Akito
You are jumping to conclusions, who the hell said I would use an unsupported OS for everyday use?
I have retail copies of XP, Vista and W7, I am entitled to use, if I so desire. So I mix Linux with Windows, no particular reason, other than to see if I can.
You implied that by addressing my earlier statement, which expressed that obsolete operating systems should not be used, but instead newer ones that still got updates should be used & frequently updated for everyday use.
You said, not using an obsolete operating system without updates is not an advice to everyone, when I said that this applies to whoever wants to use an operating system for everyday use. Therefore, you must’ve talked about everyday use, as this is what I was specifically addressing.
Obviously, there is no harm in using an obsolete operating system, isolated, without any internet access, for specific non-everyday purposes.
So, if you didn’t mean to talk about everyday usage, then why did you address my statement, as if it wouldn’t apply to everyone?
XP probably, Vista and Windows 7 I don’t know.
Companies started to make everything online, only, even if it is not technically necessary, some years ago.
If you now buy any software from any big company, whether it’s an operating system or games or whatever else you can think of, they make you activate it online. So, if your software becomes really old in the near future and the online activation services become either incompatible or straight up unreachable, then you are not able to use the software as intended, without any tricks.
So, with Vista and Windows 7, I don’t know, but with any newer operating system (or any software from any major company) you are not entitled to use that software as you please. I mean, morally you are, but not technically and lawfully.
For example, when you get Windows 10, there is no way of activating it offline. The only way to possibly be able to activate it offline is to buy a major enterprise license, costing a fortune.
However, if you buy a normal license or slightly more professional license, you are forced to activate online. It has to connect to a server to activate the operating system. Otherwise, you cannot activate it.