14 DAY TRIAL // Windows XP is no longer getting updates and security patches from Microsoft, but 25 percent of the desktop computers worldwide are still running it as we speak.
What’s more shocking however is that Windows XP can still be purchased from sites such as eBay or Amazon and, with activation still possible despite end of support, chances are that the aforementioned market share would drop at a very slow pace in the coming months.
A simple search on Google returns tens of links where you can find Windows XP installation discs for various prices, but most listings place the price of the 13-year-old operating system next to Windows 8.1’s.
For example, the listing you’re seeing here sells Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition for $89.95 (€68), which is almost as much as you’d have to pay for the core version of Windows 8.1 ($119.99 / €90).
Of course, Microsoft cannot be pleased with the fact that people are still buying an old operating system that’s no longer supported instead of the newly released Windows 8.1, so the company warns of the security risks of such a decision with pretty much every single occasion.
“An unsupported version of Windows will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update. These include security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information. Windows Update also installs the latest software updates to improve the reliability of Windows—new drivers for your hardware and more,” the company says.
Users however do not seem to be afraid of the fact that their computers could get hacked if they continue to run Windows XP, and statistics provided by market researchers confirm that it might take at least two years until everyone switches to a newer operating system.
The software giant is reportedly preparing a completely new strategy that would help kill Windows XP: Windows 9, the next big OS version coming out of Redmond, could be offered completely free of charge to Windows XP, Vista, and 7 users.
The problem for XP users will remain hardware specifications, as a brand new operating system such as Windows 9 is very unlikely to run flawlessly on a hardware configuration that was designed for XP. And still, offering users a free Windows 9 license with every new PC purchase is still a good incentive to update, so it remains to be seen whether this could convince everyone to update or not.