I think that HP would do a lot better by servicing those businesses.
Short of becoming a reseller of Microsoft post-end-of-life support contracts, I don't think HP can service these businesses in the way they need to be serviced.
"The way they need to be serviced" means continued security-patch support for XP.
Windows 7 is barely 3 years old its not like its going anywhere anytime soon.
False, if "soon" is more than about 2408 days.
Time left until 00:00:00 January 14, 2020, Redmond Standard Time: 2407 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes, 19 seconds, no 18, no 17, no arrrg, it won't stop going down.
... I don't know of any that aren't broken as designed.
A well-designed motherboard will be able to be reset to factory conditions by anyone with physical access, assuming there hasn't been physical damage.
A key component of such a motherboard is the ability for someone with physical access to reset the BIOS and volatile RAM to factory-default conditions. In other words, it should be impossible to "brick" the system using software alone.
I don't know of any well-designed motherboards that support Windows 7.
In other words, as far as I know, all modern PC motherboards ship broken.
I don't know what "ISTR" means but Windows 7 does need more than 4GB to install. If the CF to IDE adapter is truly transparent to the hardware Windows 7 should install on it assuming space is available.
I don't know if the Windows 7 installer will even boot on a Pentium III (I'm sure it won't boot on an 80286, the newest stock Linux kernels won't even compile for use on an 80386).
Assuming it does boot on a Pentium III, the installer may check for hardware that will give an unacceptably low (in Microsoft's estimate) customer experience and refuse to install. That's a fact of life with many consumer-oriented commercial operating systems.
In general, operating systems that have hobbyists or special-purpose (embedded, itty-bitty-server, etc.) customers as a significant portion of their desired user base should publish "as is, unsupported" work-arounds to allow hobbyists and specialty-aftermarket-VARs to install the base OS plus as many bits as pieces as they want that will fit on powerful-enough-to-boot-the-kernel-but-too-wimpy-to-warrant-supporting hardware, provided that the customer realizes that "he's on his own" for support.
Microsoft will sell support contracts for XP and older OSes to those willing and able to ante up.
However, your point is well taken for cash-strapped large enterprises (think governments, charities, companies with cash-flow problems, etc.) and for smaller companies who contract with other entities and who may have contractual obligations to upgrade away from XP by a certain date.
Would you use a circa 2001 ver of linux or macos?
I'm assuming you are talking about "PCs" as we normally thing of them, not special-purpose boxes, embedded systems, etc.
The answer is yes, if either
1) I had to, because my applications wouldn't run on the newer versions (think PPC-only binaries that I don't have the source for - okay, that's mid-2000s-era, but still).
or
2) it got the job done without any negative downsides and the cost to upgrade (license fees, new hardware, training, etc.) was too high. Think isolated (no Internet) systems OR the mythical (?) 2001 version of Linux or MacOS that was still vendor-supported and which had a supported security package available.
Heck, if Windows 2000 was still supported and it ran the software I needed to run (modern security software, modern web browsers with modern plug-ins, etc.) I would recommend it over XP to anyone with a sub-512MB computer.
Ditto Windows NT for computers in the 16-128MB range, provided I plugged all the security holes (disable LMHash, etc.) and my users were okay with a user interface that is as alien as Windows 8 is from Windows 2000/xp/7.
So unless MS relents and lets people get some boxes with Win7
"Pro" versions of Windows 8 come with downgrade rights. Many businesses have been "buying" Windows 8 Pro but installing Windows 7.
still get the job done without being an unacceptable security risk to their employees, their data, or the rest of their network there is no compelling reason to buy a new computer.
There, fixed that for you.
We know that people under 21 aren't legally responsible enough to be trusted to buy alcohol, so why should rapists under 16-17 be held to the same standards as adults?*
Now, 1-2 years may be a bit low for your typical 15 year old tried-as-a-juvenile rapist but under certain circumstances or in states which give more than lip service to the idea that juveniles should be rehabilitated rather than punished, 1-2 years may be appropriate.
*If I'm wrong, if 20 year olds as a group really are mature enough to buy booze and use it as responsibly as those a year older, then we need to lower the drinking age, but that's a discussion for another time.
self-checkout, heat sensing, etc. etc.
I don't know where you are from but these were "live" in grocery stores in my part of the United States years ago.
It's the release manager's call to decide what to take. He could've said "no" but didn't. Heck, he could've yelled at the developers and said "HELL @#$^ING NO" in public, but he didn't.
It's also his job to take the heat for unpopular decisions and defend them if necessary.
Finally, a "slashvertiement" that doesn't reek of spam!
Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
