The end of XP?

[ideasguy]

This subject arose in this topic.
http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,2163.0.html
In that, Barry posted details of a migration tool to help those moving from XP.

Its worthy of a dedicated topic, as many of our members may be using or have a spare XP computer.

Heres a useful document on the PC Pro website:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/388105/the-end-of-xp-everything-you-need-to-know

On that page there is a link to this:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/388126/13-may-the-day-we-ll-know-if-microsoft-is-really-abandoning-windows-xp?_mout=1&utm_campaign=pcpro_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

In that article, I found this interesting:

That will leave Microsoft with a dilemma. The company is continuing to develop patches for Windows XP: corporate customers, including the UK government, are paying Microsoft millions of pounds per year to continue to delivering support past the deadline.

The dilemma Microsoft faces is whether it will leave hundreds of millions of consumer PCs vulnerable, while continuing to patch the PCs of paying corporate customers.

In this period of financial worries those "hundreds of millions" of consumers may not have the cash to spend on a new computer. Upgrading (the alternative) may also be too technical. 

There is another BIG issue that MS should be considering.
If those "hundreds of millions" of consumers feel abandoned, they may not buy a PC!

Will Microsoft relent? We will know on May 13th.

[barryl]

Hummm .. how interesting. Maybe I should have waited until May13?

[ideasguy]

They may look at the net profits ()
Count up what they are making from corporates by charging for updates.
Balance against the custom they will lose if millions of disgruntled XP users switch to another type of computer which doesn't use Windows (and that would be very long term!!).

[roiphil]

Interesting, think i may hold off just yet but i had decided to buy a new pc, not that this one is past it but i feel i could have problems with upgrading this one to windows 8
phil