Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Windows XP End of Life is Coming

It's time to move on. Although Windows XP was an important release when it came out, and a surprising number of people and organizations are still running it, it's time to upgrade.



If you know someone still running XP, you should remind him or her in no uncertain terms that 2001 is over. On April 8th, 2014, Windows XP support will end. After that date, there will not be any updates--most notably security updates--for the O/S that should probably be called Windows Classic at this point.

One of my responsibilities at Aquatic Informatics is the supported systems matrix for our software. We had deprecated support for Windows XP a couple of releases ago, but as of our next release, we'll officially be dropping support. There's no doubt that most software companies have already done the same or will be dropping XP support in the near future. So boldly step into the present and take a look at Windows 8.1.

Update: Microsoft has generously donated a Microsoft Store Gift Card to help get the message out that it's time to upgrade.

Leave a comment on my update post and let me know what you think is the single most important reason to upgrade from Windows XP, or your favourite new feature of Windows 8.1 and you will be entered to a random draw for a $100 Microsoft Store Gift Card. Winners will be selected on July 15th.