Microsoft has slashed the price it charges businesses for extended Windows XP support, in some cases by up to 95 percent. The company won’t discuss numbers specifically, but several of Microsoft’s Windows XP customers report huge reductions in cost, from as much as $2 million to $250,000.
Today’s the day. After months of notices and warnings, Microsoft today officially ceases Windows XP support. While some governments and large businesses will continue to receive specialized (and costly) support for their existing Windows XP installations, virtually all consumer versions of the operating system will go unpatched in the face of new security threats starting tomorrow.
After more than 12 years on the market, Windows XP is finally set to lose support in April. But Microsoft’s plans to move forward could leave as many as 500 million users without critical security updates, and those systems could be infected in as little as 10 minutes by hackers hoarding exploits in anticipation of the support deadline.
Most PC users are focused on the end of support for Windows XP, set for April 2014. But Microsoft has started to plan for the death of Windows 7, and those looking to choose their long-term operating system should be aware of some important dates.
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Google on Wednesday announced that it would continue providing regular updates to the Windows XP version of its Chrome Web Browser until at least April 2015, a year after Microsoft officially ends support for the 12-year-old operating system.
After multiple extensions, Microsoft is finally ending support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. While recent hardware and software advancements require newer versions of Windows, many users prefer the user interface and relative simplicity of Microsoft’s nearly 12-year-old operating system. Windows XP is starting to show its age from a design perspective, however. The default “Luna” theme really looks out of date compared to more modern designs. Thankfully, it’s easy to keep Windows XP looking fresh with themes. One