If you haven't been paying attention, April 8th is D day – the day when Microsoft will withdraw extended support for Windows XP.
Your computer system won’t suddenly implode; it will continue to function. But the problem is that it will now be more vulnerable to security issues.
Withdrawing support is a nice way of saying you’re effectively on your own. It means no more technical support for XP from Microsoft. But, most importantly, it means no more security updates either.
Those pesky flaws and vulnerabilities that Microsoft routinely issued updates for as they were discovered will now be left to live on in your operating system, leaving it more open than before to hackers and others.
Old software
It all looks very ominous. A countdown timer is marking the passing of the days, hours, minutes and seconds until Microsoft pulls the plug. Before it reaches zero, experts recommend you either bite the bullet and upgrade, or at the very least make sure your systems are patched and up to date, with all the latest service packs installed.
“After April 8th, 2014, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for Windows XP,” Microsoft warns on its website. “Security updates patch vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malware and help keep users and their data safer.”
It’s been a long time coming. Windows XP is old software. Launched in 2001, Microsoft has since treated us to the delights of Vista, Windows 7 and the touch-optimised Windows 8 (the jury’s still out on that one) which was launched in 2012. So XP has had a long time in the sun.
Mainstream support ended in 2009. That support is guaranteed for a minimum of five years from the date of a product’s general availability, or for two years after the next version of the operating system is released, depending on which is longer.
It brings with it a lot of free features, such as fixes for critical flaws and problems in the form of patches that are sent out on a regular basis.
The ending of mainstream support left users with “extended support” until this month. Extended support provides only security updates free of charge, with non-security related fixes for critical problems offered as part of an agreement that must be bought within 90 days of mainstream support ending. This “extended” support is what is coming to an end on Tuesday.
"What it means from the average user is that, from Tuesday, any new vulnerabilities discovered in Windows XP, or indeed Office 2003, will not be patched by Microsoft," explains security consultant Brian Honan. "Those businesses will run the risk that their systems will become compromised by new vulnerabilities and viruses."
Many small businesses may be unaware of the impending shutdown despite much talk about it in the media and the tech industry.
Market share
If the figures are to be believed, people are still clinging to their old systems. The Government is already facing the prospect of paying a few million euro to support departments still languishing on XP.
According to Statcounter, XP had close to a 20 per cent market share as of January this year. It was the second most popular operating system in Europe, according to internet usage. In Ireland, in the past three months, Windows XP was third behind Windows 7 and OS X, with more than 10 per cent of the market. That’s still a lot of PCs to find themselves out of support.
There have been plenty of doom-laden articles in recent weeks predicting the dire impact of the shutdown on the network of ATMs throughout the world. If you thought it all sounded a little Y2K bug-like, you wouldn’t be far wrong.
Although there are plenty of ATMs that still use Windows XP, it’s not quite as simple as that. The good news – for the banks at least – is that an ATM running Windows XP isn’t the same as having it on your home computer. ATMs are protected by a host of other security measures, meaning they’re not at the whim of zero-day exploits, like a regular laptop.
Plus, Microsoft isn’t withdrawing support for all XP products just yet – the XP Embedded software, which many ATMs would use, is supported until 2016. That gives cash machines a little extra time to move to the next version of Windows, or seek out an alternative operating system away from Microsoft.
“That will continue to have support from Microsoft. It will continue to issue patches for those systems,” explains Honan. “It depends on the bank and how they deploy their security, but they physically shouldn’t be connected to the internet anyway; they’re in a private network.”
Bottom line
Of course, it's not as simple as installing a new operating system on your computer. Some older systems won't have the necessary hardware to run the newer systems.
For example, Windows XP required a minimum of 64MB of Ram to run, with a 233-MHz processor; Windows 7 requires a 1GHz processor and at least 1GB of RAM for the 32-bit system, and 2GB of RAM for the 64-bit system. That’s a sizable hardware gap.
The bottom line is if you are a home or business user, you had best start looking at your options – fast.
"Just because a system has gone out of support, it doesn't mean that it will stop working on April 9th," explains Honan. "But eventually, it is going to become a burden."
Changing over: alternatives to Windows XP
Windows 7
An upgrade to Windows 7 may seem like the easiest option. It's familiar, for a start, meaning fewer questions from staff on how to use it. However, you'll have to make sure all your critical software works with the new operating system, which could be a problem if you have bespoke applications.
Windows 8
Persuading people to upgrade to Microsoft's newest operating system may be a little tougher. Not only does it do away with many of the familiar elements of Windows – the Start button, for instance – it is best used with touch-enabled devices. That means more expense for businesses in replacing the hardware too. Windows 8 hasn't had an enthusiastic uptake; people are wary of that level of change. But it may well become more popular in time.
Linux
Let’s face it, if you upgrade to another version of Windows, you’re going to be in exactly the same situation in a few years’ time, facing a withdrawal of support for your computer system. Open source software may be the answer, provided your critical systems will run on Linux.
OS X
It may not be what businesses need, but Apple's OS X software is becoming more popular as consumers turn to the Macbook Air and other Mac hardware as alternatives to their PCs. The downside is that the cost of the hardware is generally more expensive than buying a budget Windows-based laptop.
Delayed action: why businesses may not have already upgraded
Cost
It can be quite costly to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 or 8, security consultant Brian Honan explains. Replacing the software – the operating system, the Office suite and other applications that are dependent on XP – could cost a lot for businesses that can ill afford it. You may also need to upgrade hardware, if your computers are too old to run newer versions of Windows, which will add to the overall bill. "The attitude may be that it's been working and it's still working, so why should I bother to replace it?'," says Honan.
Time
Testing bespoke applications built to work with new operating systems takes time and effort, and businesses may not have that to spare. Training staff to use new user interfaces and systems would also need to be taken into account – particularly when it comes to companies with a large number of users and machines to change over. "That's been a hurdle for many, particularly given the restraints on IT budgets in the past few years," says Honan.
Denial
There may have been a small cohort of users who believes that Microsoft wouldn’t actually pull the plug on XP. “Some companies may have had the false notion that Microsoft would extend the deadline,” says Honan. “That may have been more of a hope.”
