14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will stop providing support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014, so the company continues its efforts to move existing users to a newer platform, such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.
But Ovum analyst Richard Edwards has a pretty interesting alternative: what if many of the current XP users agreed to switch to Windows RT? It does not provide the same productivity level as XP, but it could very well be up to the challenge for many of them.
“When a lot of folks bought that XP computer, there wasn’t anything else they could buy,” the analyst was quoted as saying by PCPro.
“They could buy a laptop, but there was no such thing as an iPad or Nexus 7. There’s an opportunity there for those with old XP devices to pick up a replacement RT device and plug in that Windows printer, keyboard and other peripherals and stick with familiar apps such as Office.”
Windows RT adoption, on the other hand, is not at all impressive, and several manufacturers have already abandoned the platform. But still, Microsoft is really keen to continue improving it, so more devices running Windows RT will be released by year-end.