Microsoft reminds business and consumers in the Philippines with PCs still running Windows XP that their service and support for Windows XP will officially end on 8 April 2014. Six months left before this crucial point, there are still over 2.9 million PCs in the Philippines are running on Windows XP. The belated OS is an 11-year-old no longer capable of handling complicated cyber-attacks and demands for more data privacy and productivity.
After the aforementioned date, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, non-security related fixes, technical assistance, or online technical content updates for Windows XP. Users will no longer receive the updates that help protect PCs from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. This may result in downtime and software compatibility issues.
Microsoft urges all business and consumers still using PCs running on Windows XP to upgrade to either Windows 7 or Windows 8. According to the findings of Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report, Volume 14, released in April 2013, Windows XP with SP3 is up to 56.5 times more vulnerable than Windows 8 RTMi. StatCounter figures for September 2013 show that Windows XP accounts for approximately 25% of PCs in the Philippines.
Mae Rivera Moreno, Windows Lead of Microsoft Philippines said: “Clearly, there’s still a lack of urgency in some organizations in the Philippines to make migration a priority. While no one likes change, consumers and businesses need to consider newer operating systems like Windows 7 or 8 in order to modernize their computing devices and to address sophisticated threats which can compromise the safety of their personal information. This could result in additional costs associated with support and business continuity. With the typical deployment times for upgrades spanning from three to six months for small businesses, and more than six months for mid-sized businesses, we are really worried that there are companies in the Philippines which are cutting it too close to the end of service date. We are committed to helping the Philippines upgrade.”
“Time is running out,” says HandokoAndi, Manager of Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific. “In order to make sure that PCs continue to be securely supported and operational, both consumers and businesses alike should be migrating to newer versions of the operating system now, given the termination of extended support for Windows XP in just six months’ time.”
Charlie Dai, Principal Consulting Analyst, Enterprise Architecture, Forrester Research, made the following comments in his blog post, “Take a forward thinking, while pragmatic approach to Windows Migration”, on 17th September 2013: “Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 have been widely used on the client side and server side. Very few companies have put Windows migration on its IT evolution roadmap. However, I believe the time is now for IT professionals to seriously consider putting Windows upgrade into the IT road map for the next 6 months as Windows XP and the pirated OS won’t be viable much longer to support your business. We believe that Windows will continue to be a leading operating system as the base experience for IT professionals in 90% of companies globally is still on Windows. The upcoming availability of Windows 8.1 also provides substantial reasons for companies to migrate.”
Customers can visit the Windows Upgrade Centre website, which features insights from analysts and customers on their XP OS migration journey. Visit www.microsoft.com.ph/xp-eos for more details.
Source: Microsoft