The Steam hardware & software survey, run in January, said that ~6% of Steam users ran Windows XP.

Now, because Microsoft's more recent C++ compilers have to be set specifically if you want your program to run on XP, I was wondering whether it would still be a completely dumb idea to drop XP support. I don't think I will, but I'd still be interested in seeing how many XP users there are in this community, and why they continue to use XP.

For what it's worth, my opinion is that Windows 7 >> Windows XP (and from what I've seen with my parent's computers, it actually runs better too, even on old hardware), and that I like the desktop improvements to Windows 8, but think that it's got a bit of a split personality problem with the whole Metro thing encroaching all over the place. (I use Win8 myself, but I got it free through Dreamspark, so cost wasn't an issue.)

(I'm posting this in the mods forum because I'm interested specifically in mod users.)

Not a dumb idea at all. In my opinion, you have to draw the line somewhere as to which OS to support.

XP is a dinosaur today and if I had to develop anything, I would simply not consider supporting XP anymore. Period. If that hurts the feelings of certain users, well be it. You owe them nothing. XP lifecycle is coming to an end (even officially in a few months) and Win 7 and 8 are technically far superior and advanced anyway (well certainly the 64-bit versions).

Cheers!

I use WIndows XP.

I use it because I have my cousins old PC which had windows XP. I will eventually get vista or 7.

No.

Not anymore. I was using Win XP when Skyrim came out. But Skyrim ran horribly under XP on my computer. I finally broke down and installed Windows 7 to avoid freezing and slowdowns every 5 to 20 seconds.

That's right: I upgraded my operating system just to play Skyrim. That is the true sign of a svcker dedicated Elder Scrolls fan.

I would drop XP support, at this point. It's a matter of resources. Won't be able to please everyone.

I switched to 64-bit Win 7 when the first public beta became available and never looked back. Already back then XP was outdated and now... Well, now it's just dead weight.

It's time to let it rest.

Skyrim is the only reason why I got a PC. I will probably get windows vista or 7 in one year.

I've got to try Morrowind soon.

No, Windows 7, N/A, No.

XP is a dinosaur and helped hold people over through the Vista travesty. There's really no reason to keep it now.

I'd say as long as v2 remains available as a last resort for XP users, there's no need to continue supporting it going forward.

I'd say that since Microsoft is dropping support for XP in April then all software developers (Big or small, paid or unpaid) should drop support for XP. I am also of the opinion that all games released after the extended support period ends for XP should have zero support for XP (And use only DirectX 10 or higher).

I know what you mean, I switched my brother's PC over to Windows 7 awile back, and it definately performs better. His PC is by no means recent, his motherboard limits him to 2 GB RAM max, his card is a low profile Geforce 440 GT, has a basic AMD quad core (3.1 GHZ), and he can run Skyrim without any noticable drops in performance (Runs on High settings).

Windows 8.1 64-bit.

I do still have Skyrim installed on my XP gaming rig, although I mostly play it on my more recent Windows 7/64 rig . On my "Internet terminal" PC I have just switched from XP to Linux Mint. Incidentally, I also have fully functioning PC's running Windows 2000 and Windows 98SE (for old versions of Tombraider, of course)

On the backside of the copy of Skyrim I originally purchased, Windows XP is listed among system requirements. Additionally it says: "Requires Internet connection and free Steam account to activate". Nowhere on the package does it say, that I may not be able to play or activate it on Windows XP at some future time.

Therefore it would seem to me, that if Steam were to drop support for XP so, that the Steam client could no longer be installed on Windows XP, even if I have a Steam account and an Internet connection, then Bethesda would need to provide an alternative method of installation and activation on Windows XP, if they wish to properly honour their customer commitments. Of course, once installed and activated on Windows XP, which is then taken off-line, the game doesn't suddenly go sour in April, and continues to be perfectly playable.

Conserning 3rd party software, I believe support for XP might not be crucial, as the game can still be played even without such software. But it would of course be nice to still have the possibility of installing updated versions even on XP. In the end, however, no 3rd party software developer can be obligated to do anything they don't wish to do, and if support for XP is dropped, then so be it, especially if continuing would be a major inconvenience. If support is dropped, it would be nice for the last XP-compatible version to remain available, though.

Concerning compiler versions, I could mention, that I just hunted down and downloaded installer ISOs for Visual Studio C++ 2005 Express, plus an assortment of patches, so that I might be able to do some very small thingies for myself, that would be sure to run nicely on my Windows 2000 rig, where I have Morrowind currently installed . My impression is, that best overall compatibility is not always achieved by automatically going for the most recent tools (or versions of MS Office).

By the way, I also think this poll is most likely to be replied to by developers rather than users.