Without wanting to wish harm on anyone, the likelihood is, businesses and consumers are unlikely to heed the Windows XP security warnings until a company suffers a high-profile and devastating security breach as a result of sticking with it.
This is a message Microsoft, along with various security experts, have been trying to hammer home to Windows XP users since the realisation that, with end of support not far away, millions of consumers and businesses were still running it.
Even so, users aren't exactly moving off the platform in their droves, according to data from Netmarketshare. In April 2013, XP's share of the desktop market stood at 38.31 per cent, making it the second most popular operating system behind Windows 7 at 44.72 per cent.
Fast forward to March 2014, the month before XP support was due to end, and it's still in second place, making up 27.7 per cent of the market.
Without wanting to wish harm on anyone, the likelihood is, businesses and consumers are unlikely to heed the Windows XP security warnings until a company suffers a high-profile and devastating security breach as a result of sticking with it.
Until then, they'll probably assure themselves Microsoft are just scaremongering to sell more copies of Windows 7 or 8, or that they're not the type of firm to fall victim to cyber attackers.
However, with numerous cyber security surveys and research reporting an uptick in attacks on smaller firms, this seems like a foolhardy attitude.
One can only hope their cynicism and complacency won't come back to bite them on the bum at a later date.
As for my own XP machine, I still intend to use it because I've got a hospital to manage and a city to oversee the running of. My patients and citizens need me.
What I won't be doing any more is connecting it to the internet to do online banking, shopping or any other task that requires typing my bank details into an Internet Explorer 6 browser window.
Even a cursory web search could land you in trouble, if you end up on a site with the potential to infect your system with malware or some other computer nasty.
No, XP's days as my OS of choice are long gone, and the business community needs to dump it like it ruthlessly did away with floppy disks, fax machines and filing cabinets yonks ago.
-
ITPro is 20!We take a look back on the past two decades since ITPro launched...
-
Cyber experts issue alert after two ransomware groups team up on ‘unprecedented’ threat campaignNews The tie-up includes a new model of industrialized ransomware deployment that significantly lowers the barrier to entry for cyber crime
-
Why is Windows 11 so disliked by programmers – and can Microsoft do anything to change things?Windows isn't the most useful OS in the eyes of developers, with programmers preferring macOS or Linux. But is its bad reputation uncalled for?
-
AI is coming to Ubuntu: Canonical exec teases future AI features and agentic workflow capabilities for version 26.10 — but on a ‘strictly opt-in basis’News A range of new AI features are coming to Ubuntu over the next year, according to maintainers, but only providing they’re of “sufficient maturity and quality”.
-
Windows 10 extended support costs could top $7 billionNews Enterprises sticking with Windows 10 after the October deadline face huge costs
-
Tiny11 review: Windows 11 with only 2GB of RAMReview A version of Windows 11 for older machines that don't meet the full requirements
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux becomes foundational operating system for Cohesity Data CloudNews New strategic partnership between Red Hat and Cohesity aims to drive innovation in the data security and management space
-
Ubuntu shifts to four-week update cycleNews Critical fixes will also come every two weeks, mitigating the issues involved with releasing prompt patches on the old three-week cadence
-
AlmaLinux follows Oracle in ditching RHEL compatibilityNews Application binary compatibility is now the aim with 1:1 now dropped
-
How big is the Windows 10 cliff-edge?ITPro Network With some comparing the upcoming Windows 10 end of life to Windows XP, we ask members of the ITPro Network for their insight
