Remember the date. April 8, 2014 is the last day Microsoft will provide Windows XP users with updates and security patches. Past this date, users of the vintage platform will have to fend for themselves.
Most consumers then will have no choice other than to either deploy Windows 7 or Windows 8 (maybe even Windows 8.1, colloquially known as Windows Blue, eh?), or risk a certain barge of cybercriminal attacks and threats that may arise after the end of support.
Windows 8 may have failed to ignite the market, but that is not stopping Microsoft from sticking to its plans to retire the 11-year-old operating system that goes by the name of Windows XP.
More importantly though, the company has amped up its efforts to try and convince everyone still using the old OS to make the move to a newer platform.
The software titan continues its efforts via advertising as well as direct communication with clients.
How much results the efforts are bearing is still up for debate.
According to the newest statistics provided by Net Applications for the month of March 2013, Windows XP finds itself installed on more than 38 percent of computers worldwide — a figure that is very slowly on the decline.
And a clear sign that Microsoft will have to pass through heaven and hell to kill the platform.
But a full year remains, even as some users disappointed with Windows 8 have expressed their intention of sticking with Windows XP — despite Microsoft’s warnings that by doing so they risk exposing their data and making the computers vulnerable to attacks.
The clock is ticking, and ticking fast. 365 days is the latest count.
