14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will no longer release security patches and updates for Windows XP as of April 8, 2014, which means that 29 percent of the desktop computers worldwide are on the edge of becoming vulnerable to attacks in approximately 12 days.
Several large companies and organizations across the world, however, are considering the possibility to purchase extended Windows XP support, which would basically guarantee them that Microsoft would fix any found vulnerability and security issue that hackers might attempt to exploit.
A new report is revealing that Philippine banks are planning to do exactly the same thing, as local officials are currently holding talks with Microsoft representatives to buy extended Windows XP support and thus extend the life of their computers running the 13-year-old operating system.
“I think most banks are in the middle of transformation. So I really don’t know how much effort is involved from XP to Windows 7. They may ask for some extension. Maybe some of the banks,” Lorenzo Tan, president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, was quoted as saying by InterAksyon.
Microsoft has yet to release a statement on this, but the company must be very pleased with the news, especially because it’s living proof that customers have finally understood the risks of staying with such an old operating system and are now prepared to move to a newer platform.
Just like it’s the case of many other Windows XP users, Philippine banks are only purchasing extended Windows XP support for a limited time, until the transition to a newer operating system is successfully completed and all data is secure.
Unsurprisingly, however, most of those who decide to switch to a newer platform are actually choosing Windows 7 instead of Windows 8.1, Microsoft’s newest best in the OS market that’s said to provide the highest level of security currently available to Windows users.
Windows 7 remains the number one operating system out there, with a market share of nearly 50 percent, which means that one in two desktop computers is running the OS version launched by Microsoft in 2009. Redmond, on the other hand, hopes to see a massive transition to Windows 8.1, despite the fact that such a process would also involve hardware upgrades.
Windows XP will get the last round of updates next month on April 8, so consumers who plan to stick to this particular OS version are strongly recommended to deploy the patches and take the necessary steps to protect their computers.