Completely off topic...but is Windows XP dead?

[gertsy]

On older machines there is really no reason to move off it.  But both home and corporate users will find that any new PC or MB/CPU/Memory upgrade will most likely not have support driver support for xp.
It's definitely on the cart..

Windows 8 is a different OS experience to Windows 7/Vista.  On a touch device it's totally different than mouse based.  If you are prepared to re-learn how to do certain things it's quite powerful.  But a lot of people expect it to work the same as the previous OS, I did. Once I understood what they were trying to achieve I understood the benefits.  Still I wish you could see your apps running in some kind of task bar at the bottom of the screen. Flicking through pages is fine if you have touch but a pain with a mouse.  SP1 please...sorry ranting off topic..

[gertsy]

...
So - is the ONLY really compelling reason to upgrade to a later version of Windows (if you're happy with older software) the lack of security patches?

Nup, Lack of driver support for new hardware is the biggy. And growing...

I like your usage profile, simular to mine.  I have still have Windows 98 apps (32 bit) that run fine on Win8.  Studio 5 is one example.  In fact I haven't had an XP app/game I've purchased, that I can think of, not run on Vista-Win7-Win8.

PS: It's more modern apps that want you to upgrade and try to block you from installing older versions of their app on new OS's.  Nero is one example. But they are usually easy to get around.

[gertsy]

Actually, XP is pretty dead.
If you have a CD that pre-date SP3, you've got to manually install SP3.
It doesn't always work correctly.
And in a little over a year, updates for SP3 stop.

A good run, but it about done.

You can slipstream SP3 into XP on a bootable CD.  You've had to do that for a lot of motherboards since 2009 as they only Support XP SP3.

http://www.pcmech.com/article/slipstream-sp3-into-a-windows-xp-install-cd/

[gertsy]

Windows 8 is Windows 7 on steroids. I never use the start screen and I don't miss the start menu. Other than that it's just better, but you're free to do what you want.
 

 
That isn't because people wouldn't like windows 8 though, that is because businesses have to buy machines that will run the software that keeps their business going. Keeping custom applications working on new versions of an operating system without recompiling can be tricky, that problem is not just limited to Windows.

?? You don't have to recompile anything for Windows 8.  It's the same base version of Windows as Windows 7 and Vista. (6.0, 6.1 and 6.2.)

[gertsy]

Windows OS is broken. Every version. It has a nasty, faulty filesystem to start with: it has fragmentation problems I've NEVER experienced in any other OS I've used (and I've used a lot!).
It's unsecure, it degrades with use (wich is..just..so stupid I don't want to see it near me never again),  why would you want to use such a piece of crap?

Do yourself a favor and install Lubuntu instead. No, NOT Ubuntu, but Lubuntu. It has low requeriments and it will work way better. It's way easier to use, really. My mother is 54 and she uses Lubuntu everyday (she never used or understood Amiga, for example).

Seriously, WHY Windows? Don't be so cruel with yourself.

I've used lots of operating systems as well. NTFS is a fine file system, As to fragmentation yes 15 years ago, (It used to be called checker boarding on Unix and Linux and older OSes)
As to security I've had a vanilla XP SP laptop with no AV software or security patches connected directly to my external router for 3 years now Std XP Firewall on (Which I use for torrent work).  

I've never tried Lubuntu.  But the same laptop I spoke of used to be Ubuntu 10 for a little while but it kept freezing on boot randomly.
Good luck to your Mum. Sounds like Lubuntu is useful which is the main thing.

I use Windows because I want to do modern things like encode bluray DVDs and Edit and work with high definition video.  I can't do that with any other OS and when I can its at half the speed I can with my Windows/Intel rig.