Mybe SomeThing’s U Didn’t know about Windwos Xp
Windows XP end of life
We work with customers of all sizes in a range of industries all over the world. This perspective allowed us to foresee the lag in Windows 7 migrations. Despite repeated projections of rapid Windows 7 enterprise adoption, customers told us they planned to take their time. Some began planning or knew what their Windows 7 deployment strategy would be, but few had undertaken, much less completed, their Windows 7 migration. But the story is different now. With Windows XP end of life less than a year away, customers are feeling an increasing urgency to complete their Windows 7 migration jobs. We see and hear about it from the same kinds of customers who were, due to necessity (usually related to application compatibility issues), waiting. These customers are now restless to get the job done.
Windows XP is stable and it stands to reason that, in time, it will be less valuable as a target for malware. It is conceivable that since consumerization and device proliferation, especially mobile devices and tablets, are overwhelmingly dominating the computing market that they would be a more likely target. But a weakened Windows OS with an exposed attack surface won’t be ignored. IT departments are wise to tackle and complete this important project in a timely way. And with the shift in the market and the long tail to complete Windows 7 migration, we aren’t surprised to have so many conversations revolving around this seemingly old issue.
Top 5 reasons not to migrate off of Windows XP
1. You have equipment that only talks to Windows XP. Or maybe you have a piece of equipment like a CNC machine that runs Windows XP embedded. Whatever the reason, upgrading from Windows XP might mean replacing functional, expensive equipment. Windows XP is going to be with us for a long time because many companies decide that there are reasons not to migrate certain workloads off of it (or at least to not rush into it). We’re not saying these are good reasons, but those who control the budget often don’t understand the potential hazard of running a Windows version that Microsoft no longer supports. All you can do is continue to plead your case and hopefully the budget will be allocated to a migration before it’s too late. And when the day comes to migrate workloads off of Windows XP, SmartDeploy can help. For a free migration guide, visit http://www.smartdeploy.com/solutions/windows-migration/its-time-to-leave-windows-xp.
2. Your business still depends on essential DOS-based or other 16-bit applications. Maybe they still work great and there is no reason to upgrade the legacy software. Or maybe the vendor went out of business years ago. Or, worse still, maybe those programs connect to specific, ten-year-old-plus hardware, ruling out virtualization.
3. You manage PCs that won’t run newer OS’s. The boxes are still good and they are not scheduled for replacement and management doesn’t want new hardware right now. There is no way that Intel Celeron and 500 MB RAM is going to handle Windows 7, let alone Windows 8 or 8.1. (Now if only management would authorize a spare motherboard or two in case those fail…)
4. Management doesn’t want to spend the money: Windows XP has been extremely stable for them, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. (Besides, as long as you can guarantee that your users never visit sketchy web sites, click on questionable links, or open dodgy emails, management figures you should be fine.)
5. Your users fear change. Maybe they are afraid they will get disoriented in a new UI. Or they’ve been using their Internet Explorer 6 cache in lieu of a favorites bar for years and are terrified of losing it. Regardless of the reason, they have the ear of management and they are not budging.