The company is thus trying to convince businesses to abandon Windows XP

Apr 9, 2013 05:05 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft yesterday announced that it would stick to its April 8, 2014 retirement date for Windows XP, so all users are recommended to dump the 11-year-old operating system and move to newer software as soon as possible.

In order to make sure that most businesses that decide to migrate go for Windows 8, Microsoft also rolled out a new discount that cuts the price by 15 percent for all those who purchase both Windows 8 Pro and Office 2013.

The promo runs through June 30 and is only available for a maximum of 249 licenses of Windows 8 Pro and Office 2013.

As far as users are concerned, many might actually stay with Windows XP for the time being, especially because they are still pleased with its overall performance, even though Microsoft warns that their data might be exposed after the April 8, 2014 deadline.