Will someone provide security updates for Windows XP after Microsoft stops supporting it?

By Leo Notenboom

My six-year-old Windows Dell desktop, Windows XP, SP3 runs just as well now as when it was new. Do you think there will be a software company or anyone who will provide security updates for all of the many Windows XP users after Microsoft stops supporting in April 2014?

In this excerpt from Answercast #7, I discuss the ramifications of Windows XP security and the various programs that run within it. You can certainly keep using it as long as it functions and you feel comfortable.

•

Windows XP support

In short, no. Old versions of Microsoft operating systems are well past their support date and nobody has stepped up to actually do what you’re suggesting; nor do I suspect that Microsoft would actually support that.

Windows XP does have a large installed base today. It’s just under half of all computers on the planet. That number is dropping and I believe that neither Microsoft nor some other company (even if Microsoft would let them) are really going to be that interested in supporting a market that is only by definition going to get smaller over time.

Article Continued Here

This post is excerpted with permission from Leo Notenboom.

About Leo Notenboom

Leo A. Notenboom is the owner of Puget Sound Software, LLC and the Leo in Ask Leo!. Leo has been in the personal computer and software industry since 1979, as a software engineer, a manager of software engineers, and as a consultant. In 1983 Leo joined what was then a medium sized local company called Microsoft and spent the next 18 years in a wide variety of groups working on a wide variety of software. If you're running Microsoft Windows, if you've used a Microsoft development tool or Microsoft Money, or if you've ever purchased a ticket through Expedia, there's a good chance you've been touched by some of his work. And of course, since 2003, Leo has been answering your tech questions on Ask Leo!

• 
• 
• 
• 
•