Microsoft May Need to Delay Windows XP Death

James Martin · 2013/10/26

Interesting..

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-xp-upgrade-windows-7-windows-8,24844.html

fdamp · 2013/10/27

I was in our local hospital ER for X-rays on a dislocated finger just 5 weeks ago. Every computer screen I saw was XP. Two years ago, I has an angioplasty op at a much bigger city hospital. Every patient room had an XP terminal. Same at another hospital in Everett, in a similar timeframe, where my wife had rotator cuff surgery.

All I can think is that these big users of XP have their own in-house IT departments and they can work around XPs limitations. My GP has switched to an Apple system and no longer has terminals in the examining rooms.

I'm still running XP at home. It was also on my wife's ASUS net-book. She accidentally gave that machine a 10-hour bath in Pinot Grigio while it was powered up. She's now using an iPad! Funds don't permit a new computer for me at present, so I'll probably upgrade to Win7. The Uograde Advisor says it feasible with just a couple of changes to other programs.

James Martin · 2013/10/27

"fdamp said: ↑

All I can think is that these big users of XP have their own in-house IT departments and they can work around XPs limitations. My GP has switched to an Apple system and no longer has terminals in the examining rooms.
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Would it be possible to have up-to-date servers and safely run XP terminals behind said servers after XP is officially retired?

retiredlearner · 2013/10/27

I wonder whether the hackers will worry about XP at all. They'll be too busy trying to hack W7 & 8 & 8.1.
You never seem to hear about users of W98/ME/2000 having problems - or are they extinct? Neil.

James Martin · 2013/10/27

"retiredlearner said: ↑

You never seem to hear about users of W98/ME/2000 having problems - or are they extinct? Neil.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't surprise me at all if some people are still surfing the web with outdated operating systems.

Check this article out...

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers in Use Today

Excerpt from article...

A recent federal review found that the U.S. Secret Service uses a mainframe computer system from the 1980s. That system apparently works only 60 percent of the time. Here’s hoping that uptime statistics are better for the ancient minicomputers used by the U.S. Department of Defense for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system, Navy submarines, fighter jets, and other weapons programs. Those systems, according to the consultants who help keep them going, will likely be used until at least the middle of this century.

Sounds frightening.

Arie · 2013/10/28

There's no need to delay WinXP "death ", it has been delayed way too long as it is.

As I noted previously, companies that have Custom Support agreements can still get critical issues fixed by Microsoft - for a price (rumored to be $200 per PC).

Read: Microsoft will craft XP patches after April '14, but not for you

Arie · 2013/10/28

"retiredlearner said: ↑

You never seem to hear about users of W98/ME/2000 having problems - or are they extinct? Neil.
Click to expand...

Yes, dead & buried. Desktop Operating System Market Share

Windows 2000 is only registering at 0.03%.

fdamp · 2013/10/28

As long as my system runs like it does today, I really don't give a rats about updates and improvements. I quit taking the MS auto updates 2 years ago and everything still runs just fine. If anyone want to infiltrate my data, they'll die of boredom. I agree with Neil, the bad guys are too interested in hacking the new stuff to bother with us.

Why should I have to spend money to add to Ms's profits for something I don't need or want to spend money on? The only reason I ended up with XP is that it was the only OS available when I bought my last computer. When (more probably IF) I buy another one, I'll go looking for the last W7 boxes and tell Microsoft Updates to stick it where the sun don't shine.

A pox on Gates and his successors. Windows 3.0 was just fine for us troglodytes!

lincolnp · 2013/10/28

no need to give the system an update if it works perfect unless you want try out the new one.

fdamp · 2013/10/28

Lincoln:

Glad to see someone with a similar philosophy. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

Perhaps "perfectly" is an overstatement on any MS system, no matter how many "upgrades" they do. "Adequately" is fine with me.

I'd estimate that about 30% of the updates over the years I've had XP have caused problems.

SpywareDr · 2013/10/29

Microsoft security research paints bleak picture for XP users

Windows XP will reach end of life in April 2014, after which no security updates will be issued for it.

Once the last Windows XP patch is issued (likely on April 8, 2014), unpatched vulnerabilities will begin to emerge. Some will have been saved by attackers for the time when there will no longer be a chance for it to be patched.

In subsequent Patch Tuesdays, Microsoft will patch vulnerabilities in Vista and later versions of Windows. Malicious researchers will reverse-engineer these updates, test to see if they affect Windows XP (most will), and write exploits for them targeting XP.

Even before all this happens, the vulnerability situation for XP users is bad compared to later versions of Windows. ... Windows XP users are almost six times more likely to become infected with malware as Windows 8 users.

Why are Windows XP users more vulnerable now? Because Microsoft has steadily incorporated defensive technologies into Windows with each new version. The only major technology XP had was Data Execution Prevention (DEP), and even the implementation of that has improved greatly in subsequent versions.
Click to expand...

James Martin · 2013/10/29

On my computer, XP is a dog to update after a clean install. Updates that used to be second nature have become a pill to deal with.

I honestly think Microsoft is purposely souring the milk in order to get people off of XP and onto something newer.

I hope they don't treat Windows 7 that way in the not-to-distant future.

SpywareDr · 2013/10/30

XP's decreasing numbers seem to be an increasing burden.

Problem: XP is too old to be fixed.
Solution: Pull the plug & move on.

lj50 · 2013/10/30

I have XP service packs on disks. The only reason I keep them is one of my customers runs a karaoke business and refuses to upgrade. But after 04-08-14 I do not think it will matter. That is why I upgraded my 13 year old desktop computer from XP Pro to Win 7 Ult on 11-12-2009.

TonyT · 2013/11/07

Here's a valid example of why to not get rid of XP:

My brother is a doctor and his office's main computer runs XP and patient mgmt-billing software. This type of software is proprietary, not for the home user. It gets auto updated insurance codes and fees. It costs a little over $20,000 US. This comp is used solely for the purpose of patient mgmt. The comp is about 7 years old and it would benefit to get a newer faster computer. If I setup a new computer that has Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, he would have to purchase a new version of the patient mgmt software at its current price of about $25,000 US.

Thus I will get him a new system and load XP and the patient software he already owns.

Steve R Jones · 2013/11/07

Tony, is the software DOS based and or was it "old" before he managed to get it to run on XP?

Odds are the newer version of the software has tons of new features he may or may not need. It can't probably do simple things like email the patients that the older one can't....

The first of two software companies I work far started with a DOS based version and was for a long time the nations best selling software in it's proprietary field. When I worked there, Win 98 was the most popular OS.... They developed a Windows based version and eventually had to force their clients to upgrade. But they did it in a way that didn't cost the clients a new purchase price.

SpywareDr · 2013/11/07

If you have Windows XP machines operating on your business' network after April 2014, the month when Microsoft will stop supporting the XP operating system, you will no longer be compliant with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

TonyT · 2013/11/07

"SpywareDr said: ↑

If you have Windows XP machines operating on your business' network after April 2014, the month when Microsoft will stop supporting the XP operating system, you will no longer be compliant with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Click to expand...

There is no specific rule stated in HIPPA that makes XP non-compliant. There are many interpretations of HIPPA rules as a result of MS announcing end-of-support for XP. Final say of HIPPA rules comes from judges if interpretation of the rules are ever in question. I've researched attorneys' viewpoints on HIPPA-XP and have found nothing that clearly states that XP will be non-compliant. I have found many articles that state XP will be non-compliant and most of that news is originated by vendors and tech people who stand to gain immensely when upgrading medical practices' hardware and operating systems.

My brother's system does not do payment card processing, thus it's of no concern. He's slowly moving over to a cloud based service anyway. The current software is made for XP.

If his attorney tells him he must upgrade then I'll install Windows 7 and run the med software in XP Mode.

SpywareDr · 2013/11/07

What will the damages be if patients identities are stolen?

--

Unsupported and unpatched environments are vulnerable to security risks. This may result in an officially recognized control failure by an internal or external audit body, leading to suspension of certifications, and/or public notification of the organization’s inability to maintain its systems and customer information.

Growing HIPAA Threat -- Ignore Windows XP at Your Own Peril

...
"What’s the prognosis?" The obvious implication is that all workstations and laptops running Windows XP will become non-compliant with HIPAA no later than April of next year. HIPAA Security Rule section 164.308(a)(5)(ii)(B) states that you must implement "procedures for guarding against, detecting, and reporting malicious software." Obviously if you cannot update your software to protect your systems against malicious software, it is impossible for you to comply with this HIPAA Security Rule specification.
...
Click to expand...

Running Windows XP means you are non-compliant and open to liability

On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will not release any security patches for Windows XP, which will effectively make it non-compliant with HIPAA / HITECH.
...
Click to expand...

HIPAA Security Rule

Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule

...
Enforcement and Penalties for Noncompliance

Compliance. The Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule) establishes a set of national standards for the use and disclosure of an individual’s health information – called protected health information – by covered entities, as well as standards for providing individuals with privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. The Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for administering and enforcing these standards and may conduct complaint investigations and compliance reviews.

Consistent with the principles for achieving compliance provided in the Privacy Rule, OCR will seek the cooperation of covered entities and may provide technical assistance to help them comply voluntarily with the Privacy Rule. Covered entities that fail to comply voluntarily with the standards may be subject to civil money penalties. In addition, certain violations of the Privacy Rule may be subject to criminal prosecution. These penalty provisions are explained below.

Civil Money Penalties. OCR may impose a penalty on a covered entity for a failure to comply with a requirement of the Privacy Rule. Penalties will vary significantly depending on factors such as the date of the violation, whether the covered entity knew or should have known of the failure to comply, or whether the covered entity’s failure to comply was due to willful neglect. Penalties may not exceed a calendar year cap for multiple violations of the same requirement.

For violations occurring on or after 2/18/2009 the Penalty Amount is from $100 to $50,000 or more per violation with a Calendar Year Cap of $1,500,000.

A penalty will not be imposed for violations in certain circumstances, such as if:

•the failure to comply was not due to willful neglect, and was corrected during a 30-day period after the entity knew or should have known the failure to comply had occurred (unless the period is extended at the discretion of OCR); or

•the Department of Justice has imposed a criminal penalty for the failure to comply (see below).

In addition, OCR may choose to reduce a penalty if the failure to comply was due to reasonable cause and the penalty would be excessive given the nature and extent of the noncompliance.

Before OCR imposes a penalty, it will notify the covered entity and provide the covered entity with an opportunity to provide written evidence of those circumstances that would reduce or bar a penalty. This evidence must be submitted to OCR within 30 days of receipt of the notice. In addition, if OCR states that it intends to impose a penalty, a covered entity has the right to request an administrative hearing to appeal the proposed penalty.

Criminal Penalties. A person who knowingly obtains or discloses individually identifiable health information in violation of the Privacy Rule may face a criminal penalty of up to $50,000 and up to one-year imprisonment. The criminal penalties increase to $100,000 and up to five years imprisonment if the wrongful conduct involves false pretenses, and to $250,000 and up to 10 years imprisonment if the wrongful conduct involves the intent to sell, transfer, or use identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm. The Department of Justice is responsible for criminal prosecutions under the Privacy Rule.
Click to expand...

lj50 · 2013/11/07

A lot of physicians do not know the meaning of a secure website. Doctors and their assistant's just start entering their patients information electronically with total abandonment. Every Drs. office I've been to are still running Win XP. I am starting to become a bit concerned with regards to my personal information.

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Microsoft May Need to Delay Windows XP Death

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