Don’t Blame A 12-Year-Old Operating System When It Crashes

The picture above shows a display in the Qantas Club lounge in Sydney which has crashed and become stuck on the Windows XP loading screen. These sorts of sights aren’t uncommon, but it would be a mistake to blame this particular problem on the OS itself. Instead, the question should be: why is an OS which ends all support in just over nine months still running in a prominent public location for a major company?

Sure, upgrade cycles in large organisations run slowly, but Windows 7 (the best accepted of Windows XP’s successors) has been available for more than four years. Another consideration: the lounge where this screen is wasn’t rebuilt until around that same time.

In computing terms, Windows XP is a dinosaur; there are better solutions available. The embarrassment in this case falls squarely on Qantas’ shoulders. That’s my take. What’s yours?


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