Posted on 03/12/2013 2:55:18 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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. ®
Every computer at work still runs XP. Trying to upgrade has led to catastrophic failures.
Windows blows. Always has, always will. Feeble crapware with almost no backwards compatibility.
See #111.
I don’t think so.
Very good assessment of the situation regarding XP.
You are absolutely right about the Windows Explorer that comes with Win 7. It’s amateurish.
Matter of fact, Mickeysoft has never equalled the Norton Desktop that was sold to run on top of Win 3.1. They incorporated copies of most of ND into Win 95, but they never did it as well as Norton.
For file management and searching in Win 7, I am still using PowerDesk, copyright 1998. It works properly.
So far her least favorite is Ubuntu. When she got W8 she had a cow but after a couple of weeks she really liked it. Although she usually has it in XP desktop she does use the Metro desktop too.
When I build my next machine I'll most likely go with W8.
BTW my fav OS is still the OLD Tandy Deskmate. Wish they had kept developing it.
Glad to know the File Explorer jumping is a ‘bug’ and not a feature.
It showed up in the 3 Win7s I’ve used: 1 desktop and 1 laptop that died after 13 months (Samsung junk) and 1 replacement (Dell) laptop.
I have tried several standalone file managers, but they all have their quirks. I do use Classic Shell.
When I first started with Win7, I found some things from XP would not install or I preferred the XP version over the Win7 versions. With most, I managed to copy the right dll’s, etc., and get most of the XP programs to run. No so with XP’s File Manager, and MS Publisher 98 (I only use it occasionally, so not worth buying a new version) templates don’t work but the remainder of Publisher does.
Sure, but even if you can install that on a PC from 1993, you’re probably not going on the internet and trying to do your daily business on the thing. Might be good to play solitaire on or something.
Did you do an upgrade from XP to Win-7, or was it a “clean install”? Or were those 3 units new with Win-7? Just wondering...
Err, no. It’s quite simple and haven’t had any issues except a few games.
The 3 were new units. Desktop is a Gateway i5, the Samsung piece of junk laptop is a 17-inch i5, and its replacement Dell is a 17-inch i7.
One morning, the Samsung laptop would just not turn on. I tried all the tricks — removing battery, removing memory, even took out the hard drive and managed to copy files I needed. I read online that others had similar problems. I took it to a local repair shop, since it was out of warranty. We concluded that the motherboard was the culprit, but the repair shop could not find a replacement — not even from Samsung.
They do make great monitors, though... I have several 27” widescreens, but have never tried their machines. My best luck’s been w/ HP, so far.
Or Flash.
“Sure, but even if you can install that on a PC from 1993, you’re probably not going on the internet and trying to do your daily business on the thing. Might be good to play solitaire on or something.”
Puppy Linux actually works pretty well online, but you probably won’t have any luck configuring any printer to work. Setting up a printer from a list of brands and models is a breeze until you try a test print, it goes through the motions and then and nothing comes out. Simply maddening. For the past four years I have alternated between Ubuntu and Mint on various machines and found them to be much more reliable. In fact, I haven’t used Windows at home at all for the past several years.
I mostly use Opera.
My favorite browser, too; love that “Speed Dial”. I have 54 websites set-up on it. I’m an old Netscape Navigator v1 (Mozilla) user from way back in mid-95, all the way thru Netscape v9.
I don't have that problem because I got in the habit, back with Win95, I think, always to use TWO explorer windows to move files between folders. Right clicking on the explorer icon allows opening the second explorer windows.
No matter how full a folder is, dragging the item to be moved to the bottom of the other explorer window always allows the file (or folder) to go to the proper place, and there is always a "pop up" verifying the destination.
Never fails.
Here's the difference. You think it's out of the goodness of their heart, even though they have ALWAYS rushed buggy software onto the purchasers prematurely. The purchaser is used as a free Beta tester.
I know that they do it to avoid a quick and deserved business death.
“The purchaser is used as a free Beta tester.”
Yeah, what OS or software doesn’t? You’ve just got some grudge against MS, for whatever reason, probably just plain old elitism. It’s an emotional thing, just like people who hate Ford or Chevy, instead of just driving the cars they like and not worrying about everyone else.
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