14 DAY TRIAL // It’s a well-known fact that the PC industry isn’t doing very well right now, even though Microsoft launched not only the Windows 8 operating system, but also two major updates for the platform.
Windows XP’s end of support, which took place in April, was expected to be a catalyst for PC sales and, according to some research companies, this critical moment for the entire industry actually helped the recovery of the collapsing PC market a little bit.
But according to Intel, Windows XP’s retirement isn’t supporting the PC industry as much as it was initially believed, although the company admits that it does play a small role in this mission.
“Windows XP [end-of-life] is a relatively small factor in the growth that we’re seeing in the commercial PC business now and in the near future,” Tom Garrison, Intel's vice president and general manager of its business platform division, was quoted as saying by ITPro.
At this point, approximately 25 percent of the desktop computers are said to be running Windows XP, according to data provided by market researcher Net Applications, so it’s really understandable that the new PC market experienced only a slight recovery following the XP end of support.
Microsoft itself knows this very well and worked with partners to make more devices available to buyers, not only running Windows 8.1, but also featuring newer hardware at very competitive prices. The company has also decided to offer Windows 8.1 free of charge to a number of OEMs building devices with a price below $250 (€180) in an effort to bring more affordable products to the market.
At the same time, the company also continues efforts to emphasize that sticking to an old operating system is risky for everyone, as cybercriminals could use unpatched flaws to compromise computers and access private data without authorization.
“It’ll become five times more vulnerable to security risks and viruses, which means you could get hacked and have your personal information stolen. Also, companies that make devices like digital cameras, Internet-ready TVs, and printers won’t provide drivers that work with Windows XP, so if you get new devices, they won’t work with your current PC. And over time, the security and performance of your PC will just continue to degrade so things will only get worse,” the company said.
As usual, it’s up to the user to device whether the transition from Windows XP should be accelerated or not, but up until now, it appears that nothing can convince the majority to update.