That’s fine, Skink... I’m just saying Microsoft is NOT just throwing away a very large client base, rather, they’d LOVE to keep it (and the cash flow!). However, the real world dictates otherwise.
It is very frustrating. I am a specialist in System Center and enterprise-level systems deployment. I’ve been telling people for YEARS that XP is going away and why. Microsoft has been doing so also. Yet I still find people resisting because in their minds, XP is perfectly fine. And it is and has been a GREAT operating system. Just like the United States Cavalry was in the 1880s. It’s just not used to fight any longer.
Microsoft no longer supports XP with free security updates, but that doesn’t mean those systems no longer work. They will work, until such time as a new or even old exploit reaches critical mass for those still connected to other networks or introducing media into those systems.
Caveat emptor.