MS to end support of Win XP in 2 years

Quoted from MSNBC.com:

The end is coming. Repent!

That was the message from Microsoft as it reminded consumers that its support for Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 will end on April 8, 2014. According to Microsoft marketing director Stella Chernyak, that means the software giant will nix security updates, non-security hot-fixes and technical support after that date. So let the countdown begin. You now have less than two years to get your affairs in order and hightail it to more current software.


Chernyak commented in a blog post that "Windows XP and Office 2003 were great software releases in their time, but the technology environment has shifted. Technology continues to evolve and so do people's needs and expectations. "


This should come as no surprise, since the announcement is consistent with Microsoft's 2002 support lifestyle policy that offers a minimum of 10 years of support (at least five years of mainstream support and five additional years of extended support). But there's a large amount of users still using XP up to SP3, and not everyone will be happy about having to upgrade. And enterprise deployment can take anywhere between 18 to 32 months from business case through full deployment, so those who want to stick with Windows and Office should begin planning, well, now.


The company recommends switching to Windows 7 and Office 2010 rather than waiting for Windows 8. Microsoft wants to facilitate that migration and is thus offering a free download of Windows 7 and Office 2010.

 

I can't see this happening. When I was in hospital in December, I noticed that the entire computer network in the hospital whenre I was treated was WinXP. I would guess there are maybe 1500 computers on their system.

If that's typical, there may be a community of several million XP customers, nationwide, who have a great deal of clout and who won't be able to afford either the disruption or the cost of converting to something else.

Imagine what would happen if, suddenly, a large number of hospitals can't accept new patients or even continue to care for those that are in treatment, just because MS got snotty and stopped support.

In my case it was an urgent requirement for a cardio catheter/angioplasty procedure with four stents being installed.

 

It says stop support, not the version won't work. There are still people out there using 95 and 98 and it is working well for what they use it for.

 

Maybe those systems with a large number of stations have their own tech staff that can keep XP running. It will be interesting to see what the final outcome is.

 

Heal infected patients with infected computers?

. . .

Killing off patients does reduces health care cost.

 

fdamp, Those running XP may be in the situation that their comps won't handle W7 or W8 in 2 years time and the expense of updating their hardware will be astronomical.
Your 4 stents working OK?
I got 3 in 2005 and it only put off for 4 months a quintuple bypass and I've never been fitter. Cheers Neil.

 

The school I work at won't update for years. The cost of replacing all those computers is just too high. Many school districts in this area won't change for the same reason.

 

Anytime a state has money problems, they cut funding to education. So teaching children is not a priority in the USA.

Parents and tax payers Don't Care, so its not going to change soon. Don't blame the schools, blame US citizens.

 

My school tax is 662/3% of my property taxes.

 

Nope, Blame the Administration. I know that we put them in there, but we can also put them back out on the street. If it wasn't for a lot of their little pet projects, there would be money for lots of things. Not say all the things, but not like it is today.

 

Yep, kick 'em all out. Then what? Put Donald Trump, Sarah Palin and The Cable Guy in there to "Git-R-Done! "?

Scootch it over a bit Brits, I'm moving in.