Microsoft India today said 84 percent of PCs in large Indian enterprises have moved away from Windows XP.
“We want every PC in India to move away from Windows XP before support ends on April 8, 2014. Our customers use Windows operating system to run critical processes which help them at work and in their lives. Therefore it is important that they use a version of Windows that gives them the best possible security and capability,” said Karan Bajwa, managing director, Microsoft India.
With 28 working days left to migrate from Windows XP to a higher version, Indian enterprises have shown significant momentum in adopting Windows 7/ Windows 8.
Microsoft said in the last eight months, there has been large scale migration from Windows XP to Windows 7/8. However, there are still about 16 percent of large enterprise computers that are active on Windows XP which pose a significant security risk to their organizations.
With end of support for its Windows XP solution kicking in on April 8, 2014, 12 years after it first launched, Windows XP computers will be a lot more vulnerable to security threats.
The bi-annual Security Intelligence Report published by Microsoft in H2 2013 shows that Windows XP installations are six times more likely to be infected by malware than Windows 8 machines.
Enterprises that do not upgrade will also face increased IT and maintenance costs. According to a report by IDC in 2013, companies continuing on Windows XP post April 8, 2014, will spend three times more on support and maintenance of their IT than those that will migrate to newer platforms.
A study by Ascentius recently said that delays in customer service due to security breaches will increase risking reputation and customer relationships. The waiting time for metro and urban bank branches is expected to rise to more than 30 minutes for an average transaction.
