John
How many of you do not update Windows? I do it all the time. In fact I update whenever there is an update. Its free and it often means a better OS. New features and better security. And bugs are fixed. I don't understand the reluctance to update. Nor do I get the dooms day response for not updating. When MS offers a service pact it follows that in order to keep current you need to install service packs. Windows 8.1 was a service pack and you cant update from 8 to 8.1.1 without it. What is so awful about that? 

 
I see things both ways - I always update and I always keep things up-to-date. But I am a hobbyist/experimenter - this is not a business.
 
Based on past experience, if I were in a business, I probably would keep my audio system off the internet.
 
So if everything that I need works, just let it be until I need something new.
 
It's not just the dangers of getting smacked by internet cyberjunk, but the update process from Microsoft is not entirely risk-free.
 
This latest 8.1 Update has many victims screaming.
 
When Windows XP Service Pack 3 came out an aeon ago, my HP system died - I had an AMD system and HP imaged it with some power  feature of Intel that was never used until the update - it took a long time to rescue that system and I've been very careful about imaging my system before every Patch Tuesday since that time.
 

My DAW sat happily off the internet for more than a year. It worked. I only dragged it downstairs once because I installed Wave Lab which requires internet activation. I ran updates at that time.. I got half way through them and unplugged it as it was taking way to long. They were all security bug fixes so a big waist of time for me. 
What are updates for unless something is broken? Nothing was broken.. An OS is not as important as far as running a couple of programs go. If the software runs smoothly why on earth would you worry about an update ?  I just ran through the re -install process and it took almost 20 hours to run all the stupid updates. Now my DAW`can go hide in the attic for another year or so. 

I don't care...I have Windows 7-64 bit on my computer and everything is working just fine...I don't need no stinkin' update. 

John
How many of you do not update Windows? I do it all the time. In fact I update whenever there is an update. Its free and it often means a better OS. New features and better security. And bugs are fixed. I don't understand the reluctance to update. Nor do I get the dooms day response for not updating. When MS offers a service pact it follows that in order to keep current you need to install service packs. Windows 8.1 was a service pack and you cant update from 8 to 8.1.1 without it. What is so awful about that? 

Me too. But on at least one occasion a Windows Update killed my MS Office (confirmed by Microsoft after some resistence). Removing the update restored function but it was quite a while before MS fixed the offending update, so that their own software was not damaged. This is not a unique experience.  So many programs are running on so many systems, that it is almost inevitable that someone is going to get hurt by an automatic update. You need to be clear about what has been done to your computer, or you will not be able to fix it if that happens. You will not even know that it was an update that broke it.

slartabartfast
So many programs are running on so many systems, that it is almost inevitable that someone is going to get hurt by an automatic update. You need to be clear about what has been done to your computer, or you will not be able to fix it if that happens. You will not even know that it was an update that broke it.

 
That's what backups are for.

I can't prove that Windows updates killed any of my computers , yet that doesn't change how I feel about keeping my primary DAW 's  off line 
one thing I know for a fact is I used to have duplicates of my DAW in lighter configurations ,
meaning , I would put SONAR and some of my favorite music software applications on a double duty / workstation / internet computer ,  keep it current / updated and try to use it for everything ….
 
in the past 5 years , I've had 2 somewhat decent mid level desktops and one high end lap top just die on me 
(I know what I'm doing …I'm not stupid )
anyway , after going through all that  ….all the convincing I ever needed  was right here under my own nose ….
 
autonomy is a cool concept as long as there is respect and understanding involved
you do what you got to do , I'm gonna do what I got to do 
 
My primary DAW stays off line ...unless  i need to update my music software 
 
Kenny
 

mudgel
I wonder if that will make the 2 Win 8 full licences that I have obsolete? I mean if I don't update to 8.1.1 by a certain time then I can't update any further than 8.1. Guess I'll have to contact MS.

I'd be curious to know the answer to this, too.

windows xp was very long past its original end of life date. The debacle known as Vista and pressure from major corporate users forced MS to continue to this 2014 date (and nothing new about this, 2014 has been publically the end of life date for xp for a few years).
 

As of April 8 (last week) the final patch for XP was released. Even if these patches are still available for the next ten years, they won't reflect security issues that come up after 2014/04/08.
If you read the numbers quoted in the article cited by the OP, Windows users break down like this:

• XP - 27.69%
• W7 - 48.77%
• W8.1 (April update) - 4.89%
• W8 - 6.41%
• everyone else (w8.1 not updated and, presumably, Vista) - 12.24%

That means Microsoft just abandoned more people (XP users) than they're currently supporting for Windows 8 in all its variations (W8, W8.1 and W8.1 April update). If you add up all W8x users (4.89% plus 6.41%) along with the leftovers (12.24%) and somehow figure out how to drop Vista users out of the 23.54% that comes to, you've got somewhere between 10% and 20% of all Windows users who are using W8, W8.1 and W8.1AU.
 
That's a pretty risky move for Microsoft, abandoning so many of their long-time users. It's only going to work out well for them if they can keep it under wraps that they just abandoned almost a third of their users. Otherwise, they could have a user revolution on their hands and be forced to reinstate support for XP.
 
As someone else stated earlier in this thread, support for XP was supposed to end years ago. Why didn't it? Because Microsoft would have been taking too much of a risk.
 
Ending support for XP now had better work out or Satya Nadella may find himself in the same unemployment line as Steve Ballmer. The so-called Data Culture he's pushing could work with the XP OS, but would be restricted in ways that no one is talking about, ways that are built into Vista, W7 and W8. XP, you see, was the last Microsoft OS that didn't install .NET as part of the base operating system. And .NET is what makes the Data Culture possible. Anyone still using XP isn't required to buy into the Data Culture mindset. All they have to do is uninstall (or not install in the first place) any .NET redistribution packages.
 
But for musicians, the bottom line is this: if you're using XP for an offline music mixing machine, you should be able to use it risk-free for an long as you want. You won't have to worry about Trojan horses, spyware or viruses if you download files on a different computer and sneaker-net them over to your music computer. Just unplug that Ethernet cable, yank out those wireless client drivers and cards and keep on keeping on.
 
The only thing you have to worry about is when Cakewalk abandons XP.
 

I believe that Cakewalk abandoned XP with Sonar X2a and with X3, support Win7 and 8 only.

The thing is that developers have to stay with current OS updates and if you don't you could find your yourself with software that doesn't work properly anymore.