On April 8, 2014 Microsoft will officially end support for it’s once popular Windows XP operating system. The company has given plenty of notice regarding this intention as, after all, a surprising number of businesses were, and still are, using the decade old OS. That may sound shocking, but the IT industry doesn’t particularly like to rush into things — many still used Internet Explorer 6 until not so long ago.
Now the world’s most populous nation is begging for the death warrant to be repealed and XP’s life to continue a bit longer. China claims that 54-percent of its population is still using the 12 year old operating system. 38-percent have moved onto Windows 7, but Microsoft also is no longer selling that in the country. The nation claims that ending support for XP would place a financial burden on the citizens. While China’s concern for its citizens seems touching, the truth is that much of the government is still using the operating system.
“With every new version of Windows we have made substantial security updates from the previous versions and both consumers and organisations can get advice on how to upgrade to a more recent operating system at www.get2modern.com”, a Microsoft spokesperson claimed in a statement to PCR. In other words, Microsoft has no plans to back down from the currently scheduled end-of-life for XP.
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows XP
