I dual boot XP on one home system to test the XP Logons. I use XP Pro at work (can't test logons because of domain).....and "there" I will not upgrade software until I upgrade the hardware. If the economy gets moving again I'll look at doing it next calendar year.

I pre-ordered a copy of X64 Pro for my latop and I got a coupon with the OEM version of Vista x64 I put on my new build.

Dunno why, I've not (intentionally) used the term in that way/context.  Tattoo boy and Wayne (@ #63) are fanboys... but a bloke with a limited income, a family to feed and bills to pay is not... he simply can't afford to upgrade every time a new OS is released. Now he might like XP... he might even like it a lot, but that still doesn't make him a fanboi... he simply has no other mainstream choice, he can't afford Vista or Win 7, and certainly not Apple Mac's OS-X.

It could be said that I'm a Vista/Win 7 fanboi because I dislike XP so much and advocate its retirement in favour of Win 7/Vista... but actually I'm not, cos I like Ununtu and would like to try OS-X.

Nah, I'm just an anti-XP fanboi and think the Daleks should exterminate that bastard child of Fisher Price.

Yeah, they'd be outnumbered by the 'can't afford to upgrades', given today's economic climate, but there's still quite a few of them around.  In my local PC store alone, the XP fanbois outnumber to sole Vista/Win7 supporter 4 to 1.   OS preferences, likes and dislikes are not something I discuss in there anymore, not with 4 of them arguing the virtues of XP over Vista... you just don't get a word in edgeways.

That's in one place, but if I were to go out looking, I bet that I could easily find one or two (different) XP fanbois every day.  Ever since Vista was released on beta and got a bad rep from purportedly knowledgeable writers/industry insiders, XP fanbois have been coming out of the woodwork...moreso than ever before.... and talking about Mac's vs PC. 

Yup, only gotta be on a crowded bus and jump up to say: "Hey, I'm a PC and I use Vista!"  Like you're gonna get 2 or 3 challengers... 2 or 3 XP fanbois who will decry your choice of OS and proceed to beat the plusses and virtues of XP into you with their tongues... which by now are lathered and foamy due to salivation and the excitement driven drool.... meaning you wouldn't wanna say it in front of Gene Simmons.  Heaven forbid he's a XP fanboi as well.

This just in! Windows 7...is really XP in disguise! Vista was just a ploy to get more of your money!  Shhhhh....don't tell anyone!  And! And this is a secret as well! So...Shhhhh....don't tell anyone!  As soon as you buy it...they have yet another new OS in the works that will be out on the market...and this one will blow all the others away!  So get your pre-orders in now! 

  They are such a DRAG!

I think this is why Microsoft stopped releasing XP in June 08... because things like these are old hat and a pain in the arse to support, as is XP... XP is too much work to support when they themselves (at MS) have moved on to a newer, better OS

The thing is, these kinds of frustrations are not being felt purely in the field of skinning, but in all areas of Windows computing. The major (and not so major) hardware and software developers have the frustration and added expense of having to create additional drivers and alternate versions because people are hanging on to XP in droves.  In some cases separate specialist teams are employed (MS, Nvidia, AMD, etc) to cater to each OS.  Now surely those resources wasted on XP could be put to better use.. to future development, innovation and the improvement of current tech for Win 7.

What it'll have to come down to at the end of the day, though, is somebody high up in one of those organisations (preferably MS) having the balls to say: "That's it, NO MORE SUPPORT FOR XP!!!!", and sticking to their guns.  Only then will we see the kind of shift away from XP that you guys (skinners and devs in general) are hoping for.

Frankly, I wouldn't have been so humane with the 'pig in lipstick' that is XP....like June 08?   I'd have put it out of our misery and hit it on the head 6 months after the release of Vista.

The reason I asked the question in the first place.

At the end of the day, it comes down to your priorities...what you want to skin and how much you enjoy it.  If giving XP a complete make-over gives you a sense of achievement and satisfaction, then keep doing it... but if not, then skin that which you want to. If that's Vista and/or Win 7, then so be it.

In other words, follow the first rule of skinning.... skin for yourself.  If you share and others happen to like it, that's a bonus, but if not... you can't please all the people all of the time.

spot on attitude....  

Thanks Webgizmos, I will be carry on making my skins for XP & Vista, I think my question was answered, & I will add on Window 7 when I get it.

Hehe, I type this post while in the dinosaur fondly known as XP.... my primary rig is out of action and in the shop, so I'm on my secondary rig with the bastard child of Fisher Price.   F**k the fickled finger of fate... Murphys Law... whatever... I'm not impressed... at all.

Nah, it's not that bad... like I can think of worse things.  Not having a spare rig with XP on it would fall into the caregory of worse.

BTW, I picked up 2 copies of Win7 Home Premium x64 at $129 AUD a piece from my local PC store today.  Can't activate them until next Thursday, but that's ok, we've got them.