Published on the 03/04/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
Microsoft turns off support for Windows XP and Office 2003 next week meaning no more patches, updates or technical support which may spur both security issues and hardware sprees…
From Tuesday 8 April Microsoft will no longer support Windows XP or Office 2003. Most Microsoft consumers have already moved off XP – they’ve opted for newer Microsoft platforms, jumped ship to Apple or embraced a tablet solution – but there remains a sizeable chunk of business still running on XP.
Technology analyst IDC wasn’t able to provide a breakdown of the number of XP machines still operating in Australia and New Zealand, but there have been reports that as many as 500,000 XP machines are still being used around the world.
Forrester produced some statistics in late 2013 that suggested as many as 20 per cent of employees were still using XP devices.
According to Amy Cheah, senior market analyst with IDC Australia; “Devices still running on Windows XP are primarily commercial PCs as the corporate OS migration process is much longer and more complex given the need to ensure compatibility of enterprise applications with the new OS.” Microsoft can’t be accused of being hasty however – it has supported XP for 12 years and given lengthy notice of its plans to stop supporting the software from next week.
While Cheah is expecting there to be some uptick in hardware sales over coming weeks as the reality of XP’s demise hits home, she said the hardware surge won’t be dramatic. She said most organisations planning to migrate from XP to Windows 7 (an easier migration than XP to Windows 8) have already begun that process, particularly in New Zealand where there has been a noticeable uptick in PC sales to businesses.
What could prove more dramatic is the risk of security breaches over the medium to long term, she said.
Ty Miller, founder and CEO of security business Threat Intelligence, predicted there will be a steady rise in malware attacks launched against XP machines from next Tuesday.
Miller said that organisations still running XP should ensure they use up to date anti-virus tools (though he warns these won’t offer a panacea for long); don’t use XP machines to access the internet; and consider running legacy XP applications virtually, inside a more up to date shell – an approach also recommended by Forrester.
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that Microsoft is recommending people upgrade to Windows 8.1 and Office 365.
