The Death of Windows XP has made its way into the forefront of IT news for the past year. We're only a week away from April 8, the last day of official support. Customers constantly ask whether their computers will stop running on April 9, afraid that Microsoft has hidden some sort of time bomb into the operating system that would render it unbootable after support ends.
No, there are no hidden time bombs (that we know about, anyway). However, once support ends, several major things will immediately happen.
1. Vendors will stop testing software, web sites, and devices with Windows XP.
Don't expect the latest version of Quickbooks or that new printer to run on an obsolete operating system. Also, since testing will stop, there will be more and more "bugs" and imcompatibilities between Windows XP and new versions of software. Web sites will stop running with Internet Explorer 8, which is the latest supported Internet Explorer on XP. For a while, you'll be able to get by on Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, but some day even those browsers will stop supporting XP. Within a short period of time, software installers for new software may say "Sorry, this application is not supported on your operating system".
2. Patches and security updates will stop.
There are hundreds of spammers and malware developers who are just waiting to start exploiting security holes in an operating system without any chance of those holes getting fixed. Worms and malware will more easily slip into XP computers and disable them. Not only will there be a sigificantly increased risk in XP systems becoming compromised, there will also be compliance issues. Credit Card companies will shortly stop allowing organizations who process credit cards to do it on XP.
3. IT Support vendors will drop XP from their services
It's expensive to keep employees around who are trained on old technologies. Most technicians want to move on to the newest stuff. So expect IT support companies to very shortly drop XP from their support contracts because it's too expensive to keep trained staff. This means if something happens and you need help, you may not be able to get it.
Windows XP was originally released in 2002. In "technology years" that's like having a 100 year old hound dog. If you have not already made plans to replace your Windows XP systems, we can help. Contact NDYNAMICS at 408-927-8700 for a no-obligation assessment to see what it will take to bring your systems up to date.
Also, don't forget Windows XP isn't the only Microsoft software that is reaching end-of-life on April 8. If you are still running Windows Server 2003, Small Business Server 2003, Exchange 2003, Office 2003, and any other product from that era, the same risks are going to apply. Contact us for help on these too.
