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1 in 7 WinXP-using biz bods DON'T KNOW Microsoft is pulling the plug
The Register ^ | 11th March 2013 14:34 GMT | Gavin Clarke

Posted on 03/12/2013 2:55:18 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Survey - Redmond so busy pushing Win 8, some IT directors didn't get the memo

*****************************************

A large number of Microsoft customers are in for a rude awakening on 8 April 2014.

With less than 400 days to go, 15 per cent of those running Windows XP are still unaware that that’s the date Microsoft finally turns off all support for its legacy PC operating system, according to a recent survey.

After 8 April next year, Microsoft will no longer make bug fixes or security updates for Windows XP, meaning customers will be naked and vulnerable to hackers and viruses and on their own in terms of code updates and fixes. Support for Office 2003 also finishes on the same date, with the same implications.

The findings come from a survey of 250 strategic IT types by application migration specialist Camwood, which polled chief information officers, technology officers and IT directors at organisations that run more than 2,000 PCs.

Fifteen per cent is a decent chunk of the Microsoft customer base. Windows XP is still used on 39 per cent of desktops – just behind Windows 7 on 44 per per cent.

XP was first released in 2001. Since its release, Redmond has pushed out Vista (2006/7), Windows 7 (2009) and its most recent OS, Windows 8 (2012).

Where there is awareness of the end of support, Camwood found 32 per cent of XPers still have not started migrating to newer versions of Windows.

That means this group will almost certainly end up running Windows XP past Microsoft’s April 2014 cut-off, and be in exactly the same predicament in terms of vulnerability to hackers and malware - and of course won't be receiving any code fixes.

Kevin van Heerden, Camwood’s head of software, told The Reg there’s no chance that those who have yet to begin the process will be able to migrate in time. Even a basic migration of just 1,000 PCs would take more than a year, depending on application and data complexity.

“Windows XP is the hackers port of call in terms of trying to get a foot hold and establish botnets,” Van Heerden told The Reg. “They are opening themselves up to risk. It’s like letting your car insurance expire – the car won’t stop working, but you are exposed to a lot of risk.”

The application migration specialist blamed the launch of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s frenetic push for consumer adoption of the new kit for the fact so many customers still don’t know about the end of support. The same was not true for previous versions of Windows, said Van Heerden.

Some customers are confused about whether to go with Windows 8 or Windows 7. This, of course, has implications from the perspective of the PC hardware that they will buy – whether it’s touch-enabled or not – and application migrations. This is adding another layer of decision-taking to the Windows XP migration debate.

“One customer said if you are going to push a new UI on employees, you might as well go all in and go Windows 8 rather than Windows 7,” Van Heerden said.

The software migration specialist says that in other organisations, there has been a grass-roots rejection of anything that takes end users away from their beloved Windows XP. “In a large percentage, they have had staff resistance – a grass roots saying they want to stay on Windows XP because they are familiar with it,” he said.

Van Heerden also said that there had been an absence of leadership from Microsoft on migrations, which he believed was caused by Redmond’s focus on consumers instead of businesses with Windows 8 - adding that the emphasis on product launches during 2012 had diluted messaging.

“There was a lot more buzz around the turn of the century because people were rolling Windows NT 4 and Year 2000 projects together, and there was an immense amount of IT experience. The move to Windows XP was a huge exercise on Microsoft’s part but last year was largest year in Microsoft’s history.

"With new versions of Windows Server 2012, operating system (Windows 8) and mobile, [Window XP migrations] are getting lost in the confusion,” he said. ®


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: hitech; windows8; windowsxp; winxp
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1 posted on 03/12/2013 2:55:18 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

It shoud be illegal for Microsoft to withdraw support.


2 posted on 03/12/2013 3:01:55 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

People clinging that hard to the past don’t really care about current events. It’s gotta be tough to stay on XP, there’s a lot of stuff that dropped support for it, actively rejects it even.


3 posted on 03/12/2013 3:01:57 PM PDT by discostu (Not just another moon faced assassin of joy.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I guess it’s time for me to upgrade to Vista.

If I only ran XP in a VM and didn’t use it while online, would I be fairly safe?


4 posted on 03/12/2013 3:03:17 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( ==> sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The sky is not going to fall. WinXP is sufficiently robust now to be plugged directly into an unfiltered Internet connection. Whoever was likely to click on every link on the screen already got his due and now knows better. There are antivirus packages, lots of them, that do a pretty good job on identifying harmful content.

On top of that, the percentage of WinXP customers will keep dropping as computers that XP runs on are failing, or otherwise removed from circulation. This will be a low interest target for hackers.

On top of that, what are those shops who run XP and are blissfully unaware? Those are car mechanics, pizza places, dry cleaners, and similar small businesses. They are not an interesting target for a hacker anyway, because they contain no c/c data and because they are connected to the Internet via the cheapest and slowest link; this makes them poor candidates for a zombie box.

My prediction is that those XP boxes will remain in use until their date of natural expiration - because the computer fails, or because the user buys a new accounting package that doesn't run on XP anymore. Boxes at homes will also remain in use because there is nothing wrong with XP as it is. As matter of fact, Win7/8 does not buy you anything. Win7 is a bit faster, but it runs on newer hardware too. Many XP boxes cannot be upgraded. Win8 is a poor choice for anyone, unless you are capable of finding and installing 3rd party software that restores usability.

5 posted on 03/12/2013 3:05:14 PM PDT by Greysard
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I would be happy if Microsoft just released a decent file manager (like XP had, that Windows 7 doesn’t have) that doesn’t jump around when one tries to use it.

That piece of crap in Win7 is a piece of crap.

And dump the ribbon menuing and go back to the XP type menus and buttons.

Newer is NOT always better.


6 posted on 03/12/2013 3:05:44 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Ever tried getting hold of MS 'support' ?

It's unlikely to be missed.

7 is better at picking up hardware .. otherwise XP is quite solid.

As with Vista, I'll most likely be skipping 8.

A good NAT router, Malwarebytes, MS Security Essentials, CCleaner, and not clicking on every link thrown in one's path = a happy box.


imho

7 posted on 03/12/2013 3:05:52 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thank you Ernest, I really enjoy your article submissions, If you got a ping list could you add me.

Isn’t Vista being dropped also at the same time as XP?


8 posted on 03/12/2013 3:06:01 PM PDT by corbe (mystified)
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To: Sacajaweau

Spoken like a true BIG GOVT socialist dictating what a company should do with its’ products.


9 posted on 03/12/2013 3:08:06 PM PDT by newfreep (Breitbart sent me...)
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To: newfreep

People bought the program “for life”...


10 posted on 03/12/2013 3:10:21 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: tomkat
Ever tried getting hold of MS 'support' ?

I have been using Windows and other MS products since about 1990.

I think I called their tech support ONE time only -- about 2004 -- because I had a problem with the purchased disk serial number being recognized by Microsoft during the installation.
11 posted on 03/12/2013 3:13:43 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Sacajaweau

And they can use it for life. Doesn’t mean MS should be spending the money to patch it or train techs how to support it. How far back should they go? By the time they finally end support it’ll be a 13 year old OS. Should they still be supporting Win98? 95? 3.11? How about DOS? My company supports 2 versions and 5 years whichever goes longest. Users that don’t want to stay in that grouping are free to keep using the product, but they’re on their own.


12 posted on 03/12/2013 3:14:10 PM PDT by discostu (Not just another moon faced assassin of joy.)
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To: Sacajaweau
It shoud be illegal for Microsoft to withdraw support.

Funny.

13 posted on 03/12/2013 3:14:49 PM PDT by Stentor (Shhhh!)
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To: smokingfrog
I guess it’s time for me to upgrade to Vista.

HUSH YO' MOUF!


14 posted on 03/12/2013 3:15:13 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Sacajaweau

Your answer is irrelevant.

The core issue is MSFT chooses what products it supports.

BIG GOVT socialists like you have NO RIGHT to dictate to a company what products it chooses to support.

Clearly, a consumer is free to choose other products.

Now go back to your fellow socialists on DU!


15 posted on 03/12/2013 3:15:17 PM PDT by newfreep (Breitbart sent me...)
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To: TomGuy
I think I called their tech support ONE time only --

. . . and prolly needed to shave again by the time ya got off hold !     LOL

16 posted on 03/12/2013 3:15:58 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Wife just had some auto updates to her Windows 7 machine that has made it almost unuseable. The browser simply refuses to go to some non-controversial websites and refuses to return some pages searched for.

If this continues to get worse, she might actually let me install Linux on her computer too. That would stop all the nonsense. Except for our local ISP who forced us to use Gmail with an alias to the old address. That system sucks too.


17 posted on 03/12/2013 3:16:02 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
My daughter's laptop has W7 and my wife's laptop has W8. I seriously hate and despise W8. That GUI looks like it was designed by and for 8 year-olds. Also, I'm getting tired of having to buy (and learn) a new OS every 5 or 6 years just to run the apps I want to use. I'm tired of MS deliberately NOT making their browser IE and the latest DX available for "older" OS's in a thinly veiled attempt to force you to upgrade.

I will check out the Playstation 4 when it comes out and probably go with that. I can watch BluRay movies, surf the web, use email (gmail) and do documents (Google Docs) along with playing my favorite games, all at a fraction of the cost of a new PC, video card and OS just to run what I want. And let's not forget all the driver update maintenance that goes with it.

I never was a console "fanboy", preferring a PC with it's better graphics and much more in-depth games, but consoles are at a point where they can rival the PC, except for business and personal stuff, which is why my wife has a laptop.

/end-rant.

18 posted on 03/12/2013 3:16:49 PM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

(1) Windows XP is superior in some ways to Windows 7, for example the XP Windows Explorer does a better job finding stuff on my PC than the Win7 Windows Explorer.

(2) Not all PC’s with XP can handle 7 or 8. Our older Sony VAIO with 1 gig ram was not able to be upgraded to Win7. But it is my business PC. And works fine otherwise. BTW Microsoft Office 97 is more trouble free than Office 2010. Despite a couple installs, when I open Word 2010, it insists on doing a very lengthy ‘activation’ of Office 2010, despite previous activations being successful.
(3) Be honest, Windows 8 sucks for professional-usage desktop PC’s. Win8 is a “One size fits all” OpSys that is annoying and awkward on a desktop PC. As a professional computer programmer, I find Win8 to be as satisfying to use as a toothache. Win8 makes Vista look great. And the saying was “Win7 was Microsoft’s apology for Vista”.

Anyway, Microsoft needs to keep forcing new OpSystems on the user base to keep its revenue stream up. New lamps for old and all that.

(4) WinXP came out in 2001 and it is now 2013...Microsoft has had how many years now to fix bugs and vulnerabilities in XP? One would think XP would be pretty bullet-proof by now. Assuming competence at Microsoft.........

Windows 8?! Barf! Who designed Windows 8? Was genius designers at Apple who wanted to drive users from Windows to Apple? Or did Microsoft hire the handicapped to design Win8? Yuck!


19 posted on 03/12/2013 3:17:03 PM PDT by OldArmy52 (The question is not whether Obama ever lies, but whether he ever tells the truth.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
A good NAT router, Malwarebytes, MS Security Essentials, CCleaner, and not clicking on every link thrown in one's path = a happy box.

But don't forget to make recovery disks on your old box, before the vendor decides to turn out the lights.

You will likely need them.

20 posted on 03/12/2013 3:17:51 PM PDT by cicero2k
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