14 DAY TRIAL // With Windows XP end of support almost here, everybody needs to decide on their next operating system, including government agencies which are said to be running the old platform on quite a lot of computers.
But Microsoft claims that the transition to Windows 8.1 is going very well right now and many government agencies are actually abandoning the old XP in the favor of its modern platform.
A statement provided by Susie Adams, chief technology officer of Microsoft Federal, for NextGov reveals that most agencies have decided to abandon not only Windows XP, but also Office 2003. The solutions they choose are Windows 8.1 and Office 365, Adams explained.
“We are seeing significant momentum in agencies moving to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 across the federal space,” the Microsoft official explained. “It is critical that federal agencies modernize now to avoid burdensome costs and ensure a smooth transition.”
While there’s no doubt that getting government computers from Windows XP to Windows 8.1 is quite an important thing, there are still lots of users out there who refuse to abandon the 13-year-old platform, despite all security warnings issued by Microsoft and its partners.
Windows XP support will, however, come to an end on April 8, so Microsoft will stop providing updates and security patches in just a couple of weeks, leaving millions of computers vulnerable to attacks.