OK, so during that extra year there will be at least one browser being maintained and patched, but the rest of the OS, and likely most of the other software you’re running on it, will be falling ever deeper into obsolescence and vulnerability.
There are plenty of options available – people not keen to pay for newer and safer Windows versions can take their pick from all manner of well-built, well-supported and user-friendly Linux distros these days, and some have even suggested that Google’s decision to extend Chrome support may be a sneaky tactic to persuade people to move to its Chrome OS.īut the main message a lot of people are going to pick up from Google’s announcement is, don’t worry, there’s no big rush, you’ve now got an extra year to think about your options and finally get moving.ĭon’t fall for this. The deadline for the end-of-life has been well-known for a long time, so there’s no excuse to be taken by surprise.
So the best advice is for anyone still clinging to XP to bite the bullet and move on to something else if at all possible. This end of life has been described as a “perpetual zero-day”, leaving lingering XP users exposed to all manner of dangers, many of which will likely be easy to reverse-engineer from bugs publicised by Microsoft itself after they are spotted and fixed on later Windows versions. Its mainstream support phase ended way back in 2009, and the current extended, patch-only support period is rapidly drawing to a close. Windows XP has now been superseded by three separate, fully-fledged Windows versions (if, that is, one counts the widely despised Vista). Google’s rationale behind the decision is that some people will find the transition away from XP a difficult process, and that allowing them to ensure their browsers are kept free of vulnerabilities will ease that transition.īut could its decision end up dissuading people from moving away from XP in a prompt and timely manner? Google has pledged to continue supporting its Chrome browser on Windows XP until at least April 2015, a full year after Microsoft officially ends support for the legacy platform in April 2014.
0 kommentar(er)
