14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft goes on with its plans to discontinue Windows XP on April 8, 2014, so users, businesses, and organizations around the world have less than 9 months to make the move to a newer operating system.
As far as Vanderburgh County, Indiana, authorities are concerned, switching to Windows 7 or Windows 8 is a pretty difficult decision, especially because they need to cope with a $2 million (€1.5 million) budget adjustment to balance expenses with estimated tax revenue.
According to Courier Press, the County’s Information Technology Advisory Council is already looking into several alternatives to Windows XP but, up until now, no decision has been made.
“Basically, everyday there are people out there that are looking to cause problems. And they find holes in the Microsoft operating system, or in Microsoft Office products,” Tim VanCleave, the executive IT director for Vanderburgh County Courts, was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.
“As long as Microsoft is doing support, they fix those holes. Starting in April next year, when somebody finds or creates a hole, Microsoft won’t fix it.”
Approximately half of the county’s computers are still running Windows XP, so the decision is pretty important for everybody.
“[The council] asked us to put together a more detailed proposal that would encompass two basic options. Moving everybody onto a new operating system and making sure all the licensing is in place, down to what’s the Band-Aid approach,” VanCleave added.
Vanderburgh County cannot abandon Windows XP entirely, because local computers are also running other Microsoft software, including the Office productivity suite, so moving to an entirely new platform would be a costly decision.
In case they decide to stick to Windows XP, a number of computers might actually be disconnected from the network, in an attempt to stay away from attacks and viruses that could compromise vital data.