[will4274]

How long should Microsoft be required to support XP? They extended the original support period TWICE. Why are customers entitled to support when they were informed prior to purchasing the product that support expired on a given date?

[codedokode]

Maybe newer OS do not have any useful features for those customers? Maybe they are even worse for them because work slower, are not compatible with old drivers, contain spyware (telemetry)?

[will4274]

Is a company obligated to sell a product with features that you consider useful? Intel doesn't make pre-ME CPUs anymore. Apple doesn't make Power PC iMacs anymore. And Microsoft doesn't make Windows XP anymore. In all these markets, there are consumers who would prefer to purchase the discontinued product. So what? Products get discontinued.

Consider a discontinued product from another industry, like a car or an appliance. When the product is discontinued, the manufacturer only creates replacement parts for existing machines for a limited time period. After some years, it's difficult for a consumer to maintain their copy of the discontinued product because it is difficult to find replacement parts.

The point is, mass produced engineering products have lifecycles. Microsoft clearly defined (and extended) Windows XPs lifecycle and provided patches for the entirety of that lifecycle. It's hard for me to understand how that doesn't fully meet their obligations to be fair to their customers.

[codedokode]

While you are right, there is a difference that you can drive a 20-30-year old (if repaired) car on modern roads but you once you connect a PC with 20-year old OS to the internet, it will get infected. And 20-year old browser will not be able to display modern websites.

Maybe when cars will become more computerized(?) and connected, they will become unusable faster.

[idlewords]

They do support XP, they just charge a king's ransom for it. Thanks to Microsoft's policies, XP is also a kind of ransomware.

[feelix]

While there are more than 100 million users of it they should continue to supply security updates for it. Otherwise a widespread virus like this is 100% inevitable.