Redmond’s global offensive against the never-say-die Windows XP is entering its final and most crucial phase. Less than six months now remain till the official retirement on April 8, 2014.
Microsoft’s major point of contention is that Windows XP is no longer a secure operating system.
And that’s not even the worst bit — the ancient OS will get even more vulnerable after retirement as the technology titan will stop providing security patches for Windows XP after it is officially discontinued. And this is exactly the point Microsoft and its partners are driving home.
But according to one expert, Scott Anderson, the president of Core Business Services in Medford, the discontinuation of Windows XP is not a surprising thing. If anything, this is something that Microsoft has planned for since the Vista debacle.
Obviously, the company moved the retirement date ahead once in the past, but now it is staying firm. In an interview with Mail Tribune, the expert said:
“Microsoft has been trying to get on to the next operating system since the Vista disaster. Windows 7 was a solid operating system that people started to place on their computers as they needed to refresh their systems, but it was still a slower adoption because you could still buy XP on new machines.”
As of this writing the overall worldwide market share of Windows XP hovers between 20 to 30 percent.
Microsoft hopes to see it drastically reduced, ideally to single figures, by the time the retirement date comes strolling around. A larger installation base will only make the job more enticing for cybercriminals and hackers starting April 9, 2014.
That is, coincidentally, the very next day after the second Tuesday for that month — Patch Tuesday.
All Comments
You have to love the press, where “Sell customers an upgrade” becomes “Kill off.” I suppose business is boring while violence is exciting. And do we really need an expert to tell us that Microsoft is now and has in the past, did there best to sell people upgrades?