RandomJoh

As of April 8, 2014, Microsoft will discontinue support for their Windows XP operating system. As a teacher, what does this mean for you and your classroom?

First, let me point out that Windows XP has been out for 12 years now. As far as a supported operating system, this is almost unheard of. Windows XP was a huge stable release for Microsoft. To this day, may people still prefer it as their primary desktop OS. What will this mean for you? Probably nothing...

Let Me Break It Down for You

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Security: if you're still using Windows XP, you're going be just as poorly protected after the end of support as you were before. Windows XP provided a great base for stability, portability, and compatibility on a variety of generations of hardware, but since its release, it's been surpassed by several other operating systems that provide those same perks on a more secure platform. After the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 in 2008, the amount of development in the OS has almost halted to stand still. Sure, you might get a security update every once in a while, but the real development was centered around making things more compatible with bridging newer operating systems (Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1, etc). You're support has been dead for years, and you just didn't notice. You'll lose support for Microsoft Security Essentials, but hopefully, you use a different antivirus. If we've learned anything from Internet Explorer, trusting Microsoft with your security is a bit like trusting a chihuahua as your home security system.

Microsoft Wants Your Money: The Microsoft home website urges consumers to upgrade to Windows 8.1 to maintain support. I'm going to let you in on a little secret, if you're still using Windows XP that came with your computer, it probably won't run Windows 8.1 any better than your refrigerator will make toast out of fresh bread. Of course, you can always buy a new computer with the money you don't have if you didn't read the first part of this blog...

What do I do?

Here are your two options if you don't want to buy a new computer:

1. Keep using the computer you own, buy a good antivirus, and keep on using it until you have the money to upgrade. At some point the software you buy will not be compatible with your computer, but for the time being you're fine.

2. Change operating systems. Perhaps you've heard of Linux and you weren't sure what it was. Maybe you thought that it was something that geeks played with in their spare time while you were out getting Vitamin D in something called "the outside". I'm going to tell you that you've probably been using Linux, and you didn't even know it. If you've ever owned a smartphone that wasn't an Apple or Microsoft product, you've probably used Linux. (Whereas Apple uses its own version of Unix --something similar, but I digress) If you've ever played Nintendo Wii or WiiU, you've used Linux. If you've ever owned a Nokia Phone before 2012, you've probably used Linux. It's used in so many devices that it's almost hard to fathom all of the ways its used in our day to day lives.

Why? It's free; it's stable; it's secure; it works.

In the classroom, the big deal has always been software. You probably wouldn't put a version of Linux on a classroom computer before 2008 because of the amount of applications for education were highly limited. Now we're in the age of the clouds. Computers are starting to become overpriced machines to access the web. If you have a stable computer with a stable browser and internet access, you can do almost anything.

My Suggestions for a Stable Upgrade in 2014

1. The Old Clunker: this was the computer that barely ran Windows XP. This is the system that you hated to turn on and use, but it ran about two programs when you needed it to.

Upgrade the RAM. 9/10 times, a quick upgrade of RAM will be the difference in a night and day situation on performance. By now, the type your computer needs is super super cheap. (Here's an example)
Download Lubuntu, burn it to a CD, and install it over Windows. It'll look a little like Windows XP, but it'll take some playing around to get used to it.
Once Lubuntu is installed, go to the start-like button at the bottom left hand side of your screen, Accessories, and click on LXterminal. This will open a window similar to MSDOS (if you remember those days). Type in "sudo apt-get install edubuntu-desktop" without quotes. Then put in your password. It'll start downloading and installing your software. Wait for it to finish, and then voilà! You'll have a new section in your start menu called "Education". Play around with the new programs.
If you want to install something, it will not longer be an ".EXE" file. For now on your applications will end in ".deb". You can install windows programs, but you'll have to install a program called WINE. It would suggest against this if you have an old computer.
You should notice that you now have a lightning fast computer. Enjoy!

2. The Best Computer in the Classroom...even though it's still really slow...

Download Edubuntu, burn it to DVD, and install it on your computer over Windows.
The layout will be new to you. I'd suggest watching a few videos on how to use it first.
It'll come with tons of programs that will help you on your day to day missions in the classroom.
Office: I LOVE Kingsoft Office. It's free for Linux users. You can download the .deb installer file here. Download the deb file, double click on it to install, put in your password, and you're good to go.
Browser: Any flavor of Ubuntu Linux will come with Firefox, but Chrome and Opera are both available to install.
Need More Advice? Just comment below, and I'll throw up some ideas and pointers.