The End of Windows XP: What You Need to Know George Dearing - workintelligent.ly
go to original February 17, 2014

There's nothing to be ashamed of if your company still uses Windows XP. By this time, your ROI is off the charts. Most technology infrastructure, outside of legacy systems, just doesn't last that long.

The problem, however, is Microsoft is finally pulling the plug on support after April 8, 2014.

What you need to know if you still run XP

For larger enterprises, Microsoft’s past data shows the average enterprise deployment can take 18 to 32 months from business case to full deployment. That might seem unrealistic, but the key is to have some cushion for scheduling, planning, and of course, application testing.

And regardless of whether or not businesses meet their deployment dates, after early April, “there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates,” according to Microsoft’s online documentation.

Microsoft says running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 after support ends can lead to security risks as well as hardware and software compatibility issues. Most IT managers have already seen what Gartner mentioned.

For companies that tend to be a bit more maverick when it comes to leaning on Microsoft (or any vendor) for support, there’s more to it than just technical problem-solving. The business benefits that come with newer operating systems can be substantial, especially going from XP to something like Windows 8.

PC security and management have been improved, but perhaps just as important, Microsoft’s newer operating systems allow organizations to take advantage of more powerful virtualization and cloud-based capabilities.

Read the rest at workintelligent.ly

(editor’s note – earlier this month, Microsoft announced that they would still support Windows XP’s anti-malware programs until July of 2015, in order to help organizations complete their migrations. Windows XP will still go out of support in April of this year. For more info, please visit the Microsoft blog post announcing the decision.)

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