What does Windows XP support for the end of the business?

Computer store news: According to foreign media reports, Microsoft's support for operating systems Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server 2003, Small Business Server 2003 and Office 2003 will be in 2014 Ended in April. At that time, Microsoft 2003 series products "age" is 11 years old, while Windows XP "age" is 13 years old.

Office XP support has ended in December 2011, and Windows XP has been extended several times due to the reluctance of some users to give up Windows XP. So, what does Windows XP support mean for the enterprise?

Microsoft provides three levels of support for its software products: mainstream support, extended support, and online self-help support. Although Microsoft adopts a more flexible policy for its software products, it supports Microsoft's corporate and developer products for ten years (including five years of mainstream support and five years of extended support). ), providing five years of mainstream support for consumers and multimedia products.

The main difference between mainstream support and extended support is that Microsoft only fixes security-related vulnerabilities during the extended support period, and once the extended support period is over, users can only solve the vulnerabilities themselves. While Microsoft is committed to providing online self-help support for most of its enterprise and developer products for 10 years, Office 2003 and Windows XP have been supported for more than a decade, and Microsoft's commitments may be “dead”.

At present, about one-third of the world's personal computers are still using Windows XP. It seems that Microsoft is unlikely to remove all existing Windows XP patches that exist in their Windows software updates, but Microsoft does not. More patches will be provided. Security vulnerabilities in Windows and Office products are not uncommon. Once support is terminated, computer poisoning and vulnerabilities will increase.

While it’s not known what causes the problem to increase, the data shows that about a third of malware infections are associated with a lack of security patches. Even with anti-malware protection, Windows XP is much more likely to be infected than Windows 7. Windows 8 uses a real-time protection system, so its probability of being infected is very low.

Microsoft will provide security patches for its newer versions of Windows and Office products, but newer products are likely to become the target of more malware authors. Malware authors are likely to add new and old products. Compare and see if there are similar vulnerabilities in the new version of the product, which may lead to more vulnerabilities and malware infections in Windows and Office legacy products.

Ultimately, there will be fewer and fewer computers using outdated Windows XP and Office legacy products, and fewer and fewer malware will target these software vulnerabilities. But once subjected to a serious malware attack, users may suffer significant and irreparable damage. Therefore, it is best for users to replace Windows XP, Server 2003, Small Business Server 2003 and Office 2003 before the April deadline. If the user chooses not to change, then be prepared to be responsible for the system crash.