Home : Support : Windows XP End of Life
Support Bulletin: End of Life for Windows XP Platform
Supporting very old versions of Windows with our software can be problematic, and it means that we cannot take full advantage of new features in recent versions of Windows. We’re constantly improving our products and adding features to newer releases as the years go by and as the requirements of modern sign shops grow. To be competitive, you need modern software and it’s in your interest to be up to date on current operating systems.
Microsoft has recently announced that it is no longer supporting Windows XP:
“Microsoft provided support for Windows XP for the past 12 years. But the time came for us, along with
our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies so that we
can continue to deliver great new experiences.”
You can find out more information here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-support-help
The result of this announcement is that Windows XP users will no longer receive operating system updates, critical
security updates, and anti-virus updates. Furthermore, software vendors will no longer provide new updates and
support for their applications. In light of this development, Aries Graphics will also end support of the Windows XP
platform across all of our products. Our recommendation as a vendor of desktop software is Windows 7. Windows 8 is
also supported.
What this means
If you are running Sign Wizard, Neon Wizard, or LED Wizard on Windows XP, we will not be able to:
- Continue to provide free phone or email support to you.
- Develop new features and capabilities that are guaranteed to work on Windows XP.
- Provide updates, either by download or by CD, to your software.
Upgrade Options
If you are currently running Sign Wizard, Neon Wizard, or LED Wizard on Windows XP, then there are a few things to
think about as you migrate to a new operating system. First is that you may need to get a new computer to run a
modern operating system, since your current machine probably does not have enough processing power or RAM memory to
operate efficiently. But please note: new computers do not come with parallel ports for your old Sign Wizard and
Neon Wizard hardware keys/dongles! We do not advise that you go through all kinds of gyrations to use your old
parallel keys. Instead you should upgrade your dongle from the older parallel port design to the new USB dongles.
If you are running an older version of Sign Wizard or Neon Wizard, then this is the time to consider an upgrade to our current versions, which are Sign Wizard 7 and Neon Wizard 6.5. Please see the related Support Bulletin: End of Life for Versions 4.x and 5.x. For a limited time until June 30, 2014, we are once again offering the Customer Appreciation Discount for upgrades! This discount is 1% for each year that you have been an Aries Graphics customer.
As an example, if you are running Sign Wizard Pro 4.1 and upgrade to Sign Wizard Pro 7, the normal upgrade price is US $650. If you have been a customer since 1999, then this would be 15 years and therefore a 15% discount. The new price would be US $552.50. To find out your upgrade price, please go to our Pricing Page and enter your current product. Your upgrade options and prices will be displayed, and then you can take your Customer Appreciation Discount off of that price. If you don’t know when you purchased, just contact us and we will look it up. One additional bonus of upgrading and replacing your old hardware dongle is that this is free when you upgrade! The normal dongle exchange fee is US $125.
Please contact us to upgrade or if you have any questions about this bulletin.