Microsoft released the last public updates for Windows XP last week, but many businesses and governments that still use PCs with the 12 year old OS are paying the company to continue getting patches and support. These "custom support" packages were thought to be very expensive but now it seems Microsoft has cut the price for these packages.
Computerworld reports, via unnamed sources, that Microsoft reduced the custom support contract prices just days before the April 8th cut off day for Windows XP for many businesses. One example had a company turning down a $2 million contract for continued support for its 10,000 XP PCs, only to get the same offer from Microsoft for the price of just $250,000.
ZDNet contacted Microsoft on the matter and the company confirmed that it has indeed cut its custom support prices, although details were not revealed. It stated:
We’ve been working with customers and partners on the migration from Windows XP since we announced in September 2007 that support for Windows XP would end on April 8. 2014. As part of this effort, we’ve made custom support more affordable so large enterprise organizations could have temporary support in place while they migrate to a more modern and secure operating system.
The same story claims, via unnamed sources, that Microsoft reduced the Windows XP custom support price for one business from $85 million all the way down to $3 million.
Source: ZDNet and Computerworld