The company says that Windows XP usage is unlikely to drop on the short term

Jan 15, 2014 20:21 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP will be retired on April 8, but with more than 28 percent of the desktop computers worldwide still running it right now, it’s pretty obvious that no all users will jump ship before end of support officially arrives.

Microsoft has finally admitted that Windows XP usage is unlikely to drop on the short term, but it still warns that sticking to an old operating system is very risky for your data.

“Support for Windows XP comes to an end in April. We realize that just because support is ending, it does not mean XP usage will – much to the delight of attackers around the world. I’m not sure if it’s possible to have fond memories of an operating system, but XP will always maintain a warm place in my heart – just not on my laptop,” Dustin Childs, group manager, Response Communications, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, said.

Even though Windows XP will go dark, activation will still be required in case you deploy it on a new computer, so you’ll need to own a license if you decide to stick to XP.