Windows XP remains the world’s second most popular operating system, even though Microsoft plans to officially retire it on April 8, 2014, and only a few companies have actually made the move to newer software.
A research conducted by VMware in October reveals that no less than 94 percent of the organizations on Windows XP are still running the aging platform, with only 34 percent of them actually planning to migrate.
At the same time, 36 percent of the IT managers admit that the transition to a newer operating system is not even close to being completed. Out of these, 79 percent are saying they are moving to Windows 7, while 35 percent have picked Windows 8.
The study, which was conducted by Vanson Bourne, but sponsored by VMware and Dell, also revealed that businesses have an average of 24 applications that are only compatible with Windows XP, which obviously makes the move to a newer platform a bit more difficult.
“The most notable thing about this research isn’t just how few companies have fully migrated from Windows XP to date, but how many business-critical applications there are still in operation that will only run on XP,” commented David Parry-Jones, regional director, UK and Ireland at VMware.
“These business-critical applications related to finance, sales or customer relationship management can affect the bottom line, potentially disrupt operations and damage the reputation of organisations.”
At this point, Windows XP is running on more than 30 percent of desktop computers worldwide, which makes the aging platform the second most popular OS in the world.
Microsoft continues its plans to move users from XP to a newer platform, reminding that no security patches and updates will be released as of April 8, 2014. At the same time, Microsoft might also stop delivering updates for Security Essentials on Windows XP.
