14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft keeps struggling to move users from Windows XP to a newer operating system, so the company issued a warning that those still running this particular OS version have only 95 days left to migrate.
Windows XP will be officially retired on April 8, 2014 and Microsoft warns that without security patches and updates, users sticking to the aging operating system would be vulnerable to attacks, as hackers are very likely to try to exploit every single found vulnerability.
“Microsoft has provided support for Windows XP for the past 11 years. But now the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences,” Microsoft said in a notification posted on its official website.
“If you continue to use Windows XP after support ends, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses. Also, as more software and hardware manufacturers continue to optimize for more recent versions of Windows, you can expect to encounter greater numbers of apps and devices that do not work with Windows XP.”
At this point, Windows XP is still powering approximately 28 percent of computers worldwide, but Microsoft hopes to cut its market share to 13 percent by April.
Of course, that’s very unlikely to happen, especially because Windows 8 and 8.1 adoption is growing at a rather slow pace.
In the meantime, however, Microsoft is rumored to be preparing another large Windows 8.1 update that’s scheduled to speed up the Windows XP transition and provide users with some improvements that’ll make the modern OS a bit more appealing.
More details are very likely to be announced in April this year at the BUILD developer conference that will preface the end of Windows XP.