Author Topic: If Windows XP support is being provided to large organizations, why not end user  (Read 455 times)

Offline javajolt

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 35126
  • Gender: Male
  • I Do Windows
    • windows10newsinfo.com
The unthinkable has happened.

We are now living in the post Windows XP age. It really is the time of the modern variant of the operating system, Windows 8, technically, but the biggest news byte of the week is that Windows XP has reached end of line. Microsoft have stopped providing support for the vintage OS.

Or have they?

Redmond obviously still has a number of engineers keeping an eye on Windows XP. It is much too risky not to. Government organizations still rely on the ancient operating system, the same can be said of the industries, factories, banks, financial institutions; basically everyone that is anyone.

Meaning, those that can afford it, can get it.

Sure it costs anywhere from $5 million to $100 million a year, depending on the size and stature of the organization in question. And the amount of PCs that are still powered by the operating system, beyond support cutoff date.

But it does raise the question could Microsoft have been a bit smarter about ending support for the second most popular OS on the planet?

How about a paid support phase for end users that still cannot upgrade for one reason or another. Software compatibility? The cost of buying new (read compatible) hardware for tens or hundreds of PCs in the office? Why not sell it to anyone that wants to buy it. Even if for a couple of years?

Because it just seems to be opportunity lost. Others are chipping in to fill the void.

Sure only provide support for those owning legitimate licenses. Installations that have solid security software (antivirus) running. And only fix serious problems, every once in a while.

If the big guys can get it, why not the end users that are stuck with the OS?

These are still early days, and no serious vulnerabilities have made their way to public (even though there is every chance that hardcore cybercriminals are keeping the exploits to themselves for now), but then again inviting trouble or bad publicity isn’t the smartest of strategies.

The market has changed, Microsoft knows this all too well.

Could they have too?