Even though it is 11 years old, good old Windows XP is still the second most popular OS in the world. And while Microsoft has begun encouraging Windows XP users to upgrade to a newer version of Windows, it seems not everyone is listening.
According to the latest statistics, Windows XP commands a worldwide market share of 39.08 percent, not terribly far away from what Windows 7 enjoys at 45.15 percent.
Microsoft, for its part has already announced that it will be ending support for Windows XP in April 2014, a date that is not all that far away.
Businesses in particular have shown a distinct reluctance to upgrade. According to a UK-based enterprise migration firm, Camwood, as little as 20 percent of businesses surveyed have expressed a desire or plan to make the switch.
In an interview with InformationWeek, Ed Shepley, a solution architect at Camwood said:
“Among our own client base, only around 15-20% of businesses are looking at migration so far.
For some the issue hasn’t hit home yet. Others think they still have time, but 2014 will come round all too quickly and they shouldn’t underestimate all that’s involved.”
In fact, Sumir Karayi, the CEO of 1E, another enterprise migration company believes the entire processes will take a fair bit longer than expected, and very likely will go beyond the April 2014 date set by Microsoft. In the same interview he was quoted as saying:
“Many companies are only now putting together very large and costly projects where they will send people to every desktop and laptop to upgrade to Windows 7. This is going to take months if not years, and certainly go well beyond April 2014, as well as affect productivity. At least half a day will typically be spent on each PC or laptop, disrupting users.”
Small businesses users are another breed, but enterprises have plenty of headaches when planning such migrations. Apart from the associated costs, there are other reasons like application compatibility and hardware capabilities that they have to factor in.
If things continue at this pace, Windows XP may soon become the OS Microsoft loves to hate.
