Y4814 = April 8, 2014 = Armageddon.

So what does Y2K have to do with Y4814???

If you have been listening to all the fear mongering coming out of Redmond, WA recently you probably know that the world ends today, and if you continue to run Windows XP you will surely end up in hell, or worse, basically this is some kind of a Y2K scare. You’ll remember that Y2K from a technological perspective had already been accomplished some 5 years before Y2K actually hit. Y2K was a huge boom for Microsoft as well as the years leading up to Y2K. Why? Everyone was forced to upgrade before year 2000 because your computer would just stop working due to the Y2K software glitch.

Having lived and worked in Silicon Valley from the early eighties to late nineties I truly believed that Microsoft did not have Y2K in mind when they wrote DOS in the late seventies and were only merely saving disk space by not carrying the fourth digit to designate the year, or even had the foresight to cook up a PR bonanza like Y2K. But feast on Y2K they did, as well as the whole “PC” industry for that fact, and Microsoft reaped the rewards of the entire Y2K fiasco.

Fast forward 15 years.

With regards to Y4814, I believe that Microsoft could truly be in danger of losing a huge segment of their Windows XP installed base at this juncture. Why? Up until this point in time there was no overwhelming reason for Windows XP users to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, and Microsoft gets very little revenue from Windows XP platform users, while at the same time expending a lot of expenses to maintain “support” for Windows XP.

So is the Y4814 scare real or manufactured?

Here’s where I think Microsoft is playing with fire; This strategy worked in Y2K but this time Windows XP users DO NOT have to upgrade to another expensive Windows machine, which was pretty much the case during Y2K. In fact that Windows XP computer is probably not capable of being upgraded to Windows 8.1 so you would be forced to buy a new windows computer, just like in Y2K. When you can get a brand new iPad Mini with built in LTE and high speed Wifi for $350 why would you buy a windows computer??? In other words if you are STILL using Windows XP you can probably do it better, faster, cheaper with an iPad from Bend Cloud.

There’s an app for That

When you factor in the subsidies you get from wireless providers, the iPad Mini is only $229. Just the software to upgrade your Windows XP system costs over $100. Chances are that whatever you were doing with the Windows XP computer can be done much better on an iPad. When you also factor in the expected costs of staying with the Microsoft platform over a couple years, the iPad is virtually free!

Point of Sale (POS) systems seems to be where the biggest concentration of Windows XP users are, other than ATMs and certain niche embedded products. That being said, you can get a whiz bang portable full featured iPad POS for practically nothing today, and the iPad runs virtually EVERY software program out there, iPads are also secure and cheaply serviced or replaceable.

So why would I upgrade my Windows XP computer???? EXACTLY!!!

Just ditch the Windows XP system and let Bend Cloud set you up with an ultra modern iPad POS system that will meet your needs today and into far into the future.

*This blog is solely the opinion of it’s author and in no way represents the views or policies of Bend Cloud.