Update 10th March 2014 – There is now less than 30 days until the support for Windows XP ends, if you are still using it you need to act now. Please contact us to discuss your options.

Microsoft has announced that support for Windows XP will end on 8th April 2014. The operating system OS was first release in 2001 and has been Microsoft’s most successful OS to date. Like any other OS, it had it’s problems at first but eventually released Service Pack 2 in 2004 and that made it a much more attractive offer.

Microsoft has been trying to convince enterprises to refresh their office desktop for many years, but Windows Vista was a flop, Windows 7 has been a bit of a slow burner, and some say that Windows 8 is not really designed for business, it is more focused on the home pc (mainly tablet) market.

What happens once Microsoft stop supporting the OS?

It basically means that there will be no more “patch Tuesdays” therefore the OS will be very vulnerable to attack.

“With Microsoft withdrawing support in April 2014, there won’t be any more patch Tuesdays for Windows XP,” warns Grant Tiller, senior product manager at RES Software. “Rather than take a straight upgrade to Windows 7, people are looking at alternatives, one of which is to stick with XP.”

IT managers now have a major headache and must check whether any specialist in-house software will support the new OS. Many in-house applications are written for a browser front end, but some browser applications written for IE6 on XP will not run correctly on IE8 in Windows 7.

If you are running lots of office PC’s with Windows XP get in touch today to find out how we can help.

Originally posted on 16th August 2013 – updated 10th March 2014