Should Microsoft allow almost half a billion PCs to become potential..

[A Guy]

Should Microsoft allow almost half a billion PCs to become potential prey for hackers?

While Microsoft would like all eyes on the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 release, but what many of us are focused on is the fact that Windows XP will soon hit the end of support date.

Windows XP is a ticking timebomb for Microsoft. This that the operating system – which was first released at the turn of the millennium – is dead and gone? Think again. Estimates suggest that there are some 488 million PCs in the wild running the aging operating system. That's a shade under half a billion PCs in all.

That's a huge number, and it accounts for some 30 percent of all PCs according to metrics site NetApplications.

Can Microsoft allow almost half a billion internet-connected PCs to fall into the hands of hackers as newly-discovered vulnerabilities are no longer patched after the April 8th deadline?

Source

A Guy

 

[Ranger4]

It certainly looks like that is going to happen. There have been plenty of warnings that XP is soon to be abandoned, so if some people decide they are not going to avoid that problem then what can be done about it?.
It is probably in the same category as cigarette smoking, which has been recognised for years, but people still smoke regardless of the risk.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Not only have there been plenty of warnings, there has even been a reprieve. M$ should not be expected to support a product forever. After all, they are in the business to make money, not be a charity.

 

[Berkey]

Not only have there been plenty of warnings, there has even been a reprieve. M$ should not be expected to support a product forever. After all, they are in the business to make money, not be a charity.

Agreed. My main concern are those small businesses that still use XP. It will be unsettling knowing that if they have any sensitive information stored that they do so with an outdated program or places such as restaurants that you want to pay with credit card, but you do not realize they are using XP. It's a shame 8 was so universally rejected and 7 was given a life countdown, as I think if 8 was more globally accepted they could have ran some time of business deal both on a large corporate scale and for those small business that are set in their ways, in order to migrate them to a more secure OS, which would of course give MS the business they so desire.

 

[lehnerus2000]

MS could potentially make a stack of money providing paid updates to subscribers.

If only 100M out of the 488M PCs are owned by businesses and they were willing to pay $10/month/PC, that would generate $1B/month.

I doubt it would cost MS anything like that to provide patches (i.e. 100,000 programmers @ $10K/month).

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

MS could potentially make a stack of money providing paid updates to subscribers.

If only 100M out of the 488M PCs are owned by businesses and they were willing to pay $10/month/PC, that would generate $1B/month.

I doubt it would cost MS anything like that to provide patches (i.e. 100,000 programmers @ $10K/month).

And how many people do you think would actually pay that?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...My main concern are those small businesses that still use XP. It will be unsettling knowing that if they have any sensitive information stored that they do so with an outdated program or places such as restaurants that you want to pay with credit card, but you do not realize they are using XP...

That's why I'm seriously considering starting to carry the debit card I use for internet only. I keep only the balance I expect to spend in it and it has no overdraft provision; if there is insufficient cash in the account, the transaction will be rejected. I always have a pretty fair idea how much I'm going to spend on that card before I use it and adding to the balance is easy online or I can always call it in if necessary as long as it's during business hours.

 

[Borg 386]

My main concern are those small businesses that still use XP. It will be unsettling knowing that if they have any sensitive information stored that they do so with an outdated program or places such as restaurants that you want to pay with credit card, but you do not realize they are using XP.

Not only businesses but other places that have confidential data about you. I was at the hospital last week & I noticed they are still running XP on their PC's. Same thing at a doctors office I visited that same week. This makes for a scary situation.

But as stated, people have been warned that XP support will end. What they do is their choice...

 

[Phone Man]

MS could potentially make a stack of money providing paid updates to subscribers.

If only 100M out of the 488M PCs are owned by businesses and they were willing to pay $10/month/PC, that would generate $1B/month.

I doubt it would cost MS anything like that to provide patches (i.e. 100,000 programmers @ $10K/month).

UK's CASH POINTS to MISS Windows XP withdrawal date ? The Register

Microsoft is charging users who want extended support for custom agreements $200 per PC in the first year of a contract, $400 in year two and $800 for year three.

Jim

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My main concern are those small businesses that still use XP. It will be unsettling knowing that if they have any sensitive information stored that they do so with an outdated program or places such as restaurants that you want to pay with credit card, but you do not realize they are using XP.

Not only businesses but other places that have confidential data about you. I was at the hospital last week & I noticed they are still running XP on their PC's. Same thing at a doctors office I visited that same week. This makes for a scary situation.

But as stated, people have been warned that XP support will end. What they do is their choice...

Not when they have a responsibility to protect people's data.

 

[Berkey]

My main concern are those small businesses that still use XP. It will be unsettling knowing that if they have any sensitive information stored that they do so with an outdated program or places such as restaurants that you want to pay with credit card, but you do not realize they are using XP.

Not only businesses but other places that have confidential data about you. I was at the hospital last week & I noticed they are still running XP on their PC's. Same thing at a doctors office I visited that same week. This makes for a scary situation.

But as stated, people have been warned that XP support will end. What they do is their choice...

Not when they have a responsibility to protect people's data.

I wonder if that will lead to lawsuits in the future if and when information becomes stolen. If they willingly allow themselves to become vulnerable, then you could say they became negligent and careless with sensitive information. Kind of like the guy who willingly forgoes the safety tests on a machine, then has it breakdown and harms people, someone has to take responsibility.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Not only businesses but other places that have confidential data about you. I was at the hospital last week & I noticed they are still running XP on their PC's. Same thing at a doctors office I visited that same week. This makes for a scary situation.

But as stated, people have been warned that XP support will end. What they do is their choice...

Not when they have a responsibility to protect people's data.

I wonder if that will lead to lawsuits in the future if and when information becomes stolen. If they willingly allow themselves to become vulnerable, then you could say they became negligent and careless with sensitive information. Kind of like the guy who willingly forgoes the safety tests on a machine, then has it breakdown and harms people, someone has to take responsibility.

Funny you should mention lawsuits since I have thought about doing that if my data gets stolen because a business was still on XP (and I've never sued anyone).

 

[Berkey]

Not when they have a responsibility to protect people's data.

I wonder if that will lead to lawsuits in the future if and when information becomes stolen. If they willingly allow themselves to become vulnerable, then you could say they became negligent and careless with sensitive information. Kind of like the guy who willingly forgoes the safety tests on a machine, then has it breakdown and harms people, someone has to take responsibility.

Funny you should mention lawsuits since I have thought about doing that if my data gets stolen because a business was still on XP (and I've never sued anyone).

I think the most unnerving thing is how little non geeky people like us consider this a problem, especially the businesses and their owners. Most of my friends or people I interact with on a daily basis are essentially sitting ducks (as am I to a degree since I don't know what every single business is running) which could lead to a rash of stolen identities. Perhaps if news gets out to popular media about the dangers of this and just how much it could affect the everyday joe, they will pay more attention and maybe a few lawsuits will led to an upgrade of OS for those who are willingly sitting back.

 

[Slartybart]

Nice find Bill. I followed the article to this PDF from f-secure

Your link and the f-secure PDF give some practical advice if people do stay with XP, but really people should update the aged OS.

pg 13 THE END IS NIGH?

Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system reaches its end of extended support period on April 8th of this year. And after that? No more public system updates. No more public security updates. Users will be on their own. But XP is still a very popular OS – or at least it is prevalent (see other sections of this report for details).

Elsewhere in this report are detection statistics which highlight two very serious threats to Windows users: web-based attacks and Java-based attacks. And Windows XP is particularly an issue because once compromised – it is much more difficult to repair than its siblings. An ounce of prevention is really worth more than a cure in the case of XP.

Prediction: the April 8th “deadline” will be picked up by the mainstream press as a type of “Y2K” apocalypse waiting to happen. And when nothing happens on April 9th? The press will again publicly question what all the fuss was about. Meanwhile, in the tech press… reporters will be patiently waiting for the first critical post-XP vulnerability. When (not if ) a powerful zero-day exploit makes its way to market – that’s when the real concerns begin and important questions will be asked. Can XP be trusted?

But all is not lost. Patching XP is not the first line of defense. Or it really shouldn’t be.

Some businesses will continue to use Windows XP throughout 2014, either due to contractual obligation, or because their customers do so and they need XP to provide support. In those situations, IT managers have their work cut out for them. Air gapping systems or isolation to separate networks from critical intellectual property is recommended.

Businesses should already be making moves such as this for “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) users. XP is just another resource to manage.

Folks that continue to use XP at home can do so with some reasonable amount of safety, for a while still, but they absolutely need to review their Internet (particularly web browsing) and computing
habits:

1. Install Windows XP’s final update.
2. Install an alternative browser or browsers (they’re free!) — don’t rely solely on Internet Explorer. And don’t use Internet Explorer as the default.
3. If installed, make sure Microsoft Office is fully patched. Note that older versions of Office will run things such as Flash by default if embedded in documents. If using an older version of Office, tighten up the security options. Don’t open documents from sources you don’t trust.
4. Review the third-party software you’ve installed and uninstall anything that isn’t needed.
   :tip: If you’re going to keep XP, do a “spring cleaning” and get rid of old software.
   Because old software very often equals vulnerable software.
5. For the third-party software that you keep – consider disabling or uninstalling the browser plugins. Set the browser to “always ask” what to do about things such as PDF files.
   • Do you need Java installed on your home laptop? Probably not.
   • Advanced browser features include “click to play” options. They’re worth the extra effort.
6. Have an up-to-date security product with antivirus and firewall installed.
7. Keep your XP computer connected to a NAT router, at home, which will act as a hardware firewall.
   Practically speaking, this means you shouldn’t be roaming connecting your laptop to free Wi-Fi hotspots – keep your computer at home on a trusted network.
8. And finally… consider upgrading your OS. If you don’t want Windows 8 – there’s always Windows 7. The OEM installation is still available from many fine online retailers.

 

[lehnerus2000]

MS could potentially make a stack of money providing paid updates to subscribers.

If only 100M out of the 488M PCs are owned by businesses and they were willing to pay $10/month/PC, that would generate $1B/month.

I doubt it would cost MS anything like that to provide patches (i.e. 100,000 programmers @ $10K/month).

And how many people do you think would actually pay that?

Why would a legitimate, financially sound business (e.g. banks using XP on ATMs) not be prepared to pay $10/month/PC, when they can claim it back off of their tax bill?

If MS guaranteed that there were "no strings attached" (i.e. we won't hunt you down for using pirated copies) even more users might consider paying (since a lot of people don't like W8).
Especially if it was ultra-easy to make the payments.

Even if the cost was lowered to $1/week/PC, that would still bring in ~$5B/year (based on the 100M PCs mentioned previously).
As long as it costs MS less than that amount to create patches, they make a profit.

Obviously there would be initial start-up costs to consider (e.g. market research, license system, payment system, etc.).
These could have a significant effect on 1st year's profits.

IMO, the reason for MS to do it, would be to prevent the possible loss of ~500M potential future customers (especially as newer software may not run on XP machines, which means more potential customers for MS' Cloud services).

UK's CASH POINTS to MISS Windows XP withdrawal date ? The Register

Microsoft is charging users who want extended support for custom agreements $200 per PC in the first year of a contract, $400 in year two and $800 for year three.

Jim

Thanks for that link Phone Man.

I had read somewhere that MS has an extended support service.
I assume that price includes some form of business SLA (service level agreement).

Obviously that payment structure is designed to "encourage" users to update their OS.

From my perspective:

• XP must have been a great earner for MS.
• A lot of computers (~500M) still run it and/or the owners want to keep running it

Why not just keep milking XP for every buck?

 

[vpvalentine]

xp

It certainly looks like that is going to happen. There have been plenty of warnings that XP is soon to be abandoned, so if some people decide they are not going to avoid that problem then what can be done about it?.
It is probably in the same category as cigarette smoking, which has been recognised for years, but people still smoke regardless of the risk.

xp will allways be called xp but just like any other name it can be and hase been a name change many times. xp is in every os since xp.

 

[King Arthur]

Not only businesses but other places that have confidential data about you. I was at the hospital last week & I noticed they are still running XP on their PC's. Same thing at a doctors office I visited that same week. This makes for a scary situation.

But as stated, people have been warned that XP support will end. What they do is their choice...

Not when they have a responsibility to protect people's data.

I wonder if that will lead to lawsuits in the future if and when information becomes stolen. If they willingly allow themselves to become vulnerable, then you could say they became negligent and careless with sensitive information. Kind of like the guy who willingly forgoes the safety tests on a machine, then has it breakdown and harms people, someone has to take responsibility.

I recently had the pleasure of going to a University of California campus (I won't state which) where I found that some of the computers they were using for doing their research was running Windows 2000. That's right, there were active duty Windows 2000 machines chugging alongside the XP machines.

Essentially, running operating systems beyond their support life is nothing new. If it works, it's staying, and nobody that actually matters will have any problems with that fact.