Microsoft will officially stop supporting XP on April 8, 2014

Nov 22, 2012 12:25 GMT  ·  By

Friday marks not only the start of the holiday shopping season, but also the debut of the 500-day countdown to Windows XP’s death.

Microsoft will end support for the 11-year-old operating system on April 8, 2014, as the Redmond-based technology titan is encouraging users to make the move to a newer OS and thus rely on a much safer environment.

Microsoft Gold Partner Camwood claims that Windows 7 (not Windows 8!) will become a key product in the next years.

“However, the main factor that should mean every company is already starting to move to Windows 7 or even 8 is the risk of a security breach. Once support for XP is discontinued, enterprises running XP will probably become more susceptible to cyberattack or system meltdown,” Kevin Gemmel, head of professional services at Camwood explained.

Microsoft is reminding users every once in a while that moving to a newer Windows operating system is a crucial task, especially because Windows XP no longer represents a secure working environment.

Furthermore, some apps will stop supporting Windows XP and will run solely on Windows 7 and Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest two operating systems.

“If Windows XP is still being run in your environment and you feel that migration will not be complete by April 8, 2014, or you haven't begun migration yet, Microsoft is eager to help,” the company said.

But Gemmel thinks that Windows XP’s end is a crucial moment for all businesses and companies still relying on this particular operating system. The move to a newer Windows iteration is absolutely necessary, he said, as risks are enormous, especially when it comes to security.

“The end of XP support is a potential time bomb, and the clock is ticking. With all the potential compatibility and security issues looming from legacy systems, businesses need to understand migration is a necessary step to secure their valuable data,” he stated.