XP end of life support means is, well, “end of support,” which translates to no more patches, no more security updates, no more technical support from Microsoft itself. There are ways to work around these issues.
Windows XP end of life extended makes the point that some things are just not obsolete. For example, the Windows XP may be hung to dry before officially retiring on April 8.
In truth, nothing will immediately change. End-of-support does not negatively impact existing XP installations in any way. No features will be disabled, no upgrades will be forced, and even technical support will still be relatively easy to come across. Literally millions of articles have been published about tweaking or fixing XP, and they won’t disappear overnight.
The UK government has inked a deal with Microsoft and new CEO Satya Nadella to expand the length of support for the Windows XP. Microsoft has also agreed to extend security updates throughout government offices in the entire UK public sector for a year after the commercial support for the XP OS stops in April 2014.
The contract is valued at $9.23 million, and covers significant security updates for the XP, Office 2003 and Exchange 2003, all three of which expire for support from Microsoft.
“The deal, first reported by Computer Weekly, has been negotiated by the new Crown Commercial Service (CCS), setup within the Cabinet Office to act as a single purchasing operation for the public sector. The extended support is available to all of central and local government, charities, schools and the NHS,” reports the Telegraph.
“This is an important deal, which will provide continuity for all eligible government and public sector organisations while they migrate on to alternative operating systems," said Rob Wilmot, CCS’ person in charge for software.
"It is an excellent example of collaborative purchasing and demonstrates Crown Commercial Service’s new joined-up approach to commercial arrangements to achieve best value for the taxpayer.”
Analytics firm Netmarketshare says that Windows XP is commonly used today on an individual and company basis. For some it does seem unfair for the folks at Redmond to pull the plug on XP, which has 12-year’s of operation under its belt.
“Netmarketshare data which shows Windows XP still holding out at 29.53 percent, even though Windows 7 is the current most popular desktop OS, with a market share of 47.31 percent. Windows 8 and 8.1 now account for slightly over 10 percent of the market, at 6.38 and 4.30 percent respectively, continuing their slow uptake velocity,” reports Ars Technica.
Apart from Microsoft, software and hardware makers are reeling back their support for the XP. Another important element is that new software is hardly going to include XP drivers in their new driver pack and some might not install no matter what driver you use. Plus you could get stuck using web services that require new web browsers which will not install.
44 % of businesses surveyed by Fiberlink are still using Windows XP in the first week of April. And if that sounds a little whacky, 95 percent of the ATMs worldwide on XP cite estimates.
For another shocking figure on the cost front, IDC estimates suggest that maintaining an XP PC will run you about $870 per year, reports BizTech Magazine.
