You’d think that Microsoft completely dropping support for Windows XP would have governments fumbling over upgrading all their systems to newer, supported versions of the OS for the sake of security, especially now with the rise of cybercrime. After all, isn’t security a primary government obligation? It seems that isn’t the case though.
The UK government for example had recently decided that it would rather pay Microsoft almost $10 million for extended XP support, while other government bodies like the IRS proceed to upgrade to Windows 7. Some, like the Chinese government have refused to upgrade until a lowered price is negotiated.
Then there’s the government of New Zealand, more specifically, the Ministry for Primary Industries who have already upgraded their 2,740 computers to Windows 8.1.
“We decided not to purchase the extended support for XP offered by Microsoft from April 8th, as we were on track to complete the upgrade by June 20th and had completed a full risk assessment, which rated the security risk as low,” says Tracy Voice, Acting Deputy Director-General of Corporate Services.
The ministry will follow up the OS upgrade by upgrading to Office 2013 before the end of the year, with further upgrades also planned.
Further reading: Government, Microsoft, Windows 8.1
