Microsoft resumed support for the Windows XP operating system
Microsoft under pressure from the corporate and the ordinary home user is forced to go on an unprecedented step — the resumption of support for legacy software.
We are talking about the operating system Windows XP. This platform, we recall, was released fifteen years ago — October 25, 2001. Immediately after the release of the operating system began to gain popularity. According to Net Applications, Windows XP was the most popular operating system on computers with Internet access until August 2012.
Basic support for Windows XP was stopped in April 2009. After another five years — in April 2014 it stopped extended support for the OS. Since then, users have not received security updates.
But Windows XP is not going to retire. According to the statistics already mentioned the company Net Applications, in February 2017 this operating system was on the third place on popularity in the world with a share of 8.45 %, second only to Windows 7 (is 48.41 %) and Windows 10 (of 25.19 %).
With Windows XP continue to work both home users and corporations. So, this OS is used on many of today’s ATMs. Therefore, the lack of fresh patches for vulnerabilities in Windows XP jeopardizes important elements of IT infrastructure.
In this situation, Microsoft had to make an exception to its own rules and to resume the production of updates for legacy OS. It is reported that the second phase extended support will continue until April 2022. Thus, users will receive updates for another five years.
Moreover, those customers who previously upgraded to Windows 10 because of the lack of support for Windows XP will be able to return the money paid to use the fifteen-year-old platform.
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