RIP Windows XP. At least from Microsoft’s point of view. In fact, use of the O/S continues, and will probably do so for years.

First, let’s get one thing out of the way: it’s not a good idea to keep running Windows XP. If your XP computer is never connected to the Internet, then you have much less to worry about, but continuing to use XP on a computer that is connected to the Internet is risky. Especially if you’re also still using Internet Explorer, in which case you will almost certainly end up with malware of some kind in the very near future.

Anyone who can’t or won’t upgrade from Windows XP should take certain precautions. Check out the Windows XP page on this site for some useful tips.

If you want to do the responsible thing and move away from Windows XP, what are your choices? The best option at this point is Windows 7. You can still buy Windows 7, but Microsoft says that they will stop selling it in February 2015. I’ll be updating the Windows 7 resources on this site to provide XP -> 7 migration tips in the near future.

Other possibilities – for the more adventurous – include Linux and Chrome OS. Linux comes in many flavours, but one in particular is designed to make Windows user feel at home: Zorin OS (free). Chromium OS from Google was designed to be used with its inexpensive and simple ChromeBook computers, but it can be installed on regular PC hardware. It’s free, but probably only useful for users with basic requirements. It runs on top of Linux.

There are loads of articles on the web about the ‘XPocalypse’ – as it’s come to be known. Ars Technica has this: ‘The XPocalypse is upon us: Windows XP support has ended‘.

It’s long been understood that Microsoft would continue to produce updates for Windows XP after support officially ends on April 8, 2014 – for anyone willing to pay. What hasn’t been known for certain is whether anyone would actually pay.

Now, as reported by Ars Technica, the British and Dutch governments have apparently decided to delay upgrading thousands of Windows XP computers, and have contracted with Microsoft to continue supporting Windows XP.

This raises some interesting possibilities. It seems likely that at least one person who works in the British government will find a way to leak new Windows XP security updates to the rest of the world. Microsoft may have measures in place to prevent this, but people are inventive, and would probably find workarounds. Then again, would you trust a supposedly-official update that you obtained from a shady download site? One can imagine Microsoft relenting, and making the updates available to everyone, just to stop the spread of tainted updates.

Another possible scenario is that a flood of hacks, attacks and malware, all based on previously unknown Windows XP vulnerabilities, have such a huge impact on the Internet, that again Microsoft relents and makes updates available to everyone.

If Microsoft does give in and continue making updates available for everyone, what does that mean for the British and Dutch governments? Will they demand refunds from Microsoft? Each has apparently paid many millions of dollars for the updates, so it would be completely reasonable to want it back if the updates became available for free.

This is going to get interesting…

Update 2014Apr15: Add the US Internal Revenue Service to the list of organizations paying Microsoft for Windows XP support and patches.

Update 2014Apr21: Apparently Microsoft just reduced the price tag for Windows XP patches. Presumably they looked at the current Windows XP usage numbers and decided it’s less important to gouge corporate clients than it is to make sure Windows XP systems are patched.