Windows XP UK government pays Microsoft £5.5m to extend Windows XP support

[V_R]

Netherlands also signs separate deal as countries’ public sectors seek more time to migrate from 12-year-old operating system

The UK and Dutch governments have paid Microsoft multiple millions to extend support for Windows XP past the 8 April cutoff date.
The UK extension cost £5.5m but is only valid for a year, after which public-sector users will have to be moved to newer software.
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS), a new central purchasing agency within the Cabinet Office, paid the US software company to provide important security software updates for Windows XP, Office 2003 and Exchange 2003 for the entire UK public sector.
“We have made an agreement with the Crown Commercial Service to provide eligible UK public-sector organisations with the ability to download security updates to Windows XP, Office 2003 and Exchange 2003 for one year until 8 April 2015,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
That could require the upgrade of thousands of computers. EHI Intelligence calculated in September 2013 that 85% of the 800,000 PCs in the NHS alone were still running on XP at the time. By contrast, 14% were on Windows 7 and 1% on Windows 8.

NHS managers interviewed for that study expressed hope that Microsoft would change its mind on ending XP support, or that there would be a national solution – which appears to have happened with the CCS intervention.
“The NHS is very grateful for this deal,” said Sarah Hurrell of the CCS, according to Computer Weekly.
The support extension will give the NHS and other government departments breathing room to migrate from Windows XP.
A significant number of machines in the public sector remain on Windows XP, according to the Cabinet Office, although plans are in place to ensure that the majority of these are moved to other operating systems over the next 12 months.
The Dutch interior ministry negotiated a separate multimillion-euro deal with Microsoft for about 40,000 PCs still running Windows XP across the nation’s government-owned computers.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/07/uk-government-microsoft-windows-xp-public-sector

They've had 7 years notice. Like another 12 months will make any difference....

 

[V_R]

Over a quarter of the world’s desktops and laptops still run Windows XP – 27.69 per cent on 31 March 2014, as reported by netmarketshare.com – and reports suggest that over three quarters of UK organisations are still running the the 12 year-old operating system somewhere in their IT estate.

Currently, 85 per cent of NHS computers run on Windows XP, as well as 95 per cent of the world's ATM machines.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...rosoft-5.5m-to-extend-Windows-XP-support.html

 

[muckshifter]

I would say ... if it does what it's needed to do, then no need to spend billions on "upgrades" using public monies.

My surgery uses XP, but the pharmacist attached to the surgery uses Linux.

 

[CSB]

Can't remember what year Windows XP came out now. 2003/04???

Shame Microsoft are always keen to drop a decent operating system and users who may not be able to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1. I think with Mr Gates Billions, he could have done this as a gesture of goodwill himself, but then he doesn't have much control over it anymore does he as others have taken over certain job roles within Microsoft?

Anyway, good for all the busineses in the UK who still use XP and at least I can still use my old XP system to play Max Payne 2. I really don't know why trying to get MP2 to play on Windows 7 is such a pain and almost nearly impossible to stop the system from stretching the screen no matter what resolution you pick. I know you can run XP as a virtual machine, but then it wouldn't be using your anti virus that Windows 7 would be using.

I'm in work and it's not bad outside in Cardiff. The fun of working in emails and web chat lol

 

[crazylegs]

If it ain't broke don't fix it, been nowt wrong with XP
Microsoft just wanted another cash injection from another operating system, like they have over and over again..Cash cows are easy everytime you update OS

 

[floppybootstomp]

XP is 13 years old now. Vista appeared 2009 which means XP was MS's main OS for a staggering six years, their longest lasting OS ever, Win 98 only lasted 3 years.

If you're using it and it works then keep it until some software or hardware you want to work doesn't work.

I have XP installed on one swappable hard disk, just to play a few games that won't work on anything else but I'll likely get shot of it soon. Using this disk, XP has never failed to work with any modern hardware I'm using.

In my totally misinformed, uneducated and with no qualification to express a point of view on the subject, I'd say that Microsoft stopping their 'support' for XP means that users should have precisely bugger-all to worry about.

AV and anti-Malware software, coupled with common sense, should do the trick.

It is old though innit? How many people here are using Red hat or Mandrake from 2001? Just to give a comparison.

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/14/win_xp_uk_gov_hacker_deadline_miss/

HMRC and the NHS in England and Scotland will still be running thousands of systems using Windows XP after Microsoft turns off the support lifeline on 8 April.



HMRC has 85,784 PCs, of which 85,268 are moving off Windows XP and 58,631 are ditching Internet Explorer 6.
NHS Scotland has 3,603 PCs with 3,537 on Windows XP and the same number on IE6.

UK taxpayer? Read on...

Neither the HMRC – collector for the nation’s purse – nor NHS Scotland will pay for protection, according to our FOIA requests, yet users will continue to be allowed to access the internet from their vulnerable Windows XP machines and using IE6.
That means users could come under attack with no defence from Microsoft.

The NHS in England’s response was that it simply doesn’t know beyond headline numbers the state of Windows XP’s penetration or migration work.
The reason is hospitals, ambulance and community and mental health trust, and GP surgeries are all considered separate organisations responsible for their own IT and migration plans. “No central records are held,” NHS England told The Reg.
The result is it cannot say how many medical or and back-office staff or systems will be exposed at the NHS in England.

Hmm a National HS with no central records. Makes you wonder.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/nhs_microsoft_win_xp_extended_support/

Extended support is not a cheap option and means the taxpayer will foot the bill for the NHS’s failure to hit the April deadline to move.
Under extended support Microsoft will deploy dedicated engineers to paying customers, who keep releasing fresh security patches after the April cut off.
Fees for this special protection start at $200 per desktop for the first year, going up to $400 in the second and $800 in the third year.

A high price has been fixed deliberately by the software giant as an incentive for customers not to dawdle in finally getting off of Windows XP.

As for the cost, the DoH did not say how much it expected to pay Microsoft.
Instead, a department spokesperson told The Register: “As well as mitigating against the potential risks of unsupported Windows XP, we hope this will save a lot of money for the NHS alongside the benefits of more modern operating systems.”

Well done that gov dept.