Microsoft yesterday added ammunition to its increasingly aggressive battle to get users off the nearly-11-year-old Windows XP by citing a company-sponsored report that claims annual support costs for the older OS are more than five times that of Windows 7.
Microsoft has been banging the Windows XP upgrade drum for years, but stepped up the campaign in 2012, including starting a "two-year countdown" to the demise of security support. Last month, Microsoft was blunt, saying "If your organization has not started the migration to a modern PC, you are late."
Windows XP exits all support, including monthly security patches, in April 2014...
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Aged Windows XP Costs 5x More to Manage Than Windows 7 | PCWorld Business Center
Hi there
this isn't surprising -- just look at CARS or any other piece of machinery -- it invariably costs more to service and repair older gear than more modern stuff.
However in all this ONE important piece of information is missing.
Although it *may* cost more to maintain -- you can't forget the "Capital Outlay" (i.e COST) of purchasing the new product - be it Windows, a new Car, a new energy saving fridge or whatever.
I'm sure some people will stick with XP until they HAVE to buy a new computer. I'd suspect that most computers (non corporate or company supplied PC's) that are still running XP are due for "retirement" fairly soon anyway.
As for older legacy software - I still MOST CERTINLY AM using it. I still have an old H.P Plotter device (used regularly) which only works on XP and a large format professional printer (A2 poster size) also running on XP plus a few others..
OK I run these apps on an XP VM but it's still XP and isn't going off my system any time soon.
I know lots of cases where you have old "industrial" grade equipment which costs thousands of $$$$'s to upgrade --even if you could find newer stuff - and often you can't get a replacement.
This stuff is often perfectly "fit for purpose" for 30 - 50 years or even longer.
I think a lot of people just simply think computers are used by office professionals or home users.
Computers are used in all sorts of places -- from Oil Rigs to monitoring gases at potential volcano sites. Measuring gear is extremely expensive so the OS will remain. !!!
Often in this type of situation you CAN'T upgrade the OS even if you wanted to.
cheers
jimbo