New PC for Dad: stick with XP or go to 7?

My dad (novice user) has an old Compaq, roughly 1ghz old-school Celeron and other similarly crappy stats, which he uses for business (MS Word 03) and general home use (web, mail via tbird, scanning, printing, storing digital photos). Despite being well-set-up and well-maintained, this sucker is just annoyingly slow.

He's ready for a new machine, but I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to do it. Based on my opinion, as a person who's still using XP and has never used Vista or 7, here is my ideal scenario:

*Purchase a cheap but fast computer, e.g.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Compaq+...rive/9963938.p?id=1218202472178&skuId=9963938

*Find a shelf copy of XP home
*Patch
*Install AVG free, Spybot SD, Spyware Blaster
*Install existing copy of MS Word 03

THE UPSIDE:

*Don't have to drop a chunk of cash on a new copy of MS Word (and possibly learn a new interface) or manage any potential differences between file types (he has a large library of previous work files which he often needs to access for the purposes of new work)
*Don't have to learn new OS interface quirks, if any (note, my dad is a user who tends to require specific step-by-step instructions for any new or unfamiliar tasks)
*Don't have new OS/app bloat soaking up the newly-purchased computing power
*No worries about existing peripherals working (may be a non-issue)


THE DOWNSIDE:

*Where to find a shelf copy of XP?
*Paying retail for the shelf copy
*Does choosing XP substantially limit the security or lifespan of this machine? My understanding is that security updates for XP will continue through April 8, 2014.

In a nutshell, I think that XP works for my dad's purposes and that he would be better off sticking with the old platform, instead of having to learn to use (and possibly buy) new stuff. If an XP system will still be good to go until 2014, that makes a system with this pricetag worth it.. he can just purchase a much faster $300 machine in 2014.

Is there a downside I am missing?

 

The fact that the new machine may not work with xp, driver wise. Most new pcs are coming with hardware that hasn't got any or limited driver's for xp. Xp will run out of support from ms sooner then later i think, not sure on dates or anything, but eventually will have to learn a new os. I would go ahead and get him a windows 7 machine, and teach him how to use it. Thats my 2 Cents anyhow.

 

There is - almost for sure you won't find XP drivers for the latest hardware. Better to go with the flow and migrate to 7. It will run most XP programs and is a real pleasure to use. Otherwise just keep the existing setup.

 

Also word 2003 runs fine on windows seven.

 

Checkout some of the big maker's websites (Dell, HP/Compaq, Toshiba etc.); the Business arms of which will almost certainly still have XP 'downgrade' machines available (loaded with W7 but supplied with W7 discs plus XP Pro discs and drivers for you to install XP).

There are probably very many W7 'features' that your Dad will have no interest in learning and no use for.

 

OpenOffice can be used for free instead of buying MS Office.

http://www.openoffice.org/

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.c.../Replace-Microsoft-Office-with-OpenOffice.htm

 

Agreed with the others, with the added caveat that XP is becoming increasingly incompatible with other technologies (broadband, mobiles, software, etc.) - also, the XP disk itself is becoming increasingly rare: I have one local outlet that sells an OEM XP Home for about $125...

I also understand the upsides: the majority of my customers wear the same shoes as your father...there are new machines available, of course, built specifically for XP, with or without the OS installed...and, you can always build one for him (older components are also thinning out, but they're out there): we're here to help, but it's not nearly as hard as most people think...

If I can get my Geriatric Geeks over their 'fear of computers', the rest is gravy - Win 7 is a very good, out-of-the-box OS, and tell Dad to buckle up and we'll teach him some new tricks...or, grab him a hot-rod XP machine, something he's comfortable with...

Good luck, and keep us posted...

 

The thing is all these people that you are putting on xp to this day, when they call tech support for isps and such, people are dropping support for xp left and right, your not solving any problems by recommending downgrading to xp, just increasing future issues that will arrive when wham bam xp support is canned one day, then a panic happens when you have to teach the people how to use windows 7. I guess my thought being people that truly people who want to use a computer, will learn to use what ever os is put in front of them. There is a reason its hard to buy a copy of xp right now.

 

Another thing to take into account is will the scanner and printer have Win 7 drivers as that could be an extra cost. Still, I would go for a Win7 machine as the learning curve is very shallow. Give him a couple of weeks and he should have forgotten about XP.

 

Whoa,

There are still way more XP users and PC's than there are Vista and W7 combined and it's likely to stay that way for another year, maybe longer. Most current XP users will have zero use for tech support and if they do, they'll be just as dissappointed now as they would have been 5 years ago by the 'ISP support'. ISP support has almost nothing to do with the OS, except when it comes to using their crappy software and USB modems.

Current users of XP will not need to be 'taught' W7, they'll just need to find out how to do what they do automatically in XP - this will entail much cursing and shouts of 'why did they change that?!' and 'why on Earth do I have to jump through hoops of real fire to get my xxx printer and business software working'.

Vista and W7 are only halfway-houses towards a big leap that MS will need to make to rid themselves of the bugs and dead-ends created during the creation of W2K and XP through their own short-sightedness.

 

Heres the point im at, if i have to listen to one more customer bring in a downgraded pc, with half the drivers missing, and shitty preformance because the other drivers are set right ask me how to speed there new machine up and not understand the reason its slow, is because there son/daugther/cousin/uncle fred who knows everything about computers decided to do the downgrade to xp instead of helping the customer learn how to use the new os. It drives me nuts to explain that your "Friend" did this to your new machine, thus limiting the full potential of that new hardware.

 

It's not about limiting the potential of the hardware, it's about not decreasing the efficiency of the user and his software and peripherals.

HP/Compaq have some 39 desktops and workstations currently shipping with downgrade rights to XP.

MS have already committed to supporting those downgrade rights to XP for as long as W7 is supported, yes, that probably means way after the 2014 limit that us mortals will lose MS support for our XP Retail and OEM etc.