Windows XP, in the minds of many, still remains the greatest operating system to ever grace the PCs of the world. Windows XP was indeed an excellent OS, but the software support for it ended last year after XP celebrated its 13-year anniversary. As a result, Microsoft only allows continued support for businesses for a fee, which is said to jump up sometime in April of this year.
As it stands, commercial users of Windows XP pay around $200 per PC annually to see software support for the now-retired OS, but in two months the cost of support is expected to jump to $400 per PC annually, with a possible cap of $500,000 for an entire business should the number of supported PCs exceed the half-million dollar mark. As of this moment, the annual cap sits at $250,000.
These updates tend to be security-related and are only meant as a temporary solution since Microsoft has made it clear that the support for XP will only exist for three years following the retirement of the OS. Migrating customers to newer versions of Windows is the aim of this initiative, and current trends show more companies opting out of Windows 8 and settling for Windows 7, despite continued Windows 8 growth. However, the upcoming Windows 10 may offer a newer upgrade path for those seeking a long-term solution.
Although analytic firms differ in their reports about how many XP machines are still in the world, a ballpark estimate would point to around 16% of all Windows PCs in the world still use XP.
Source: Computer World