77% Of UK Businesses Still Running Windows XP

Seventy seven percent? How can that many companies still be running Windows XP? Please tell me this is late April Fool's Day joke.

The end of support deadline for Microsoft Windows XP is just a week away, but a staggering 77 per cent of UK organizations are still running the 12 year-old operating system somewhere in their IT estate, according to new research.

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Steve said:

77 per cent of UK organizations are still running the 12 year-old operating system somewhere in their IT estate

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I've seen places that have Win2000 print servers and payroll processing. It doesn't mean their whole infrastructure is backdated.

Very misleading headline.
I still have a copy of XP running in a VM so I can still run some old utilities.
Everything else have been upgraded to Windows 7.

I'm amazed that 23% don't even have a single copy of XP running anywhere in thier offices.

xp is just that good.

There is no way to get rid of legacy systems in a working environment. Especially one that was dominant for 12+ years. The only one I have left is in a vm on it's own vlan. Cannot get rid of it. So we sequester it.

Why would this surprise anyone? I'm working at a place still running over a hundred Win2K machines.

Sounds like the UK will be the future leader in botnet farms, right behind China.

That's nothing, I went to Wendy's the other day and in the kitchen they had these massive 7" green monochrome CRTs mounted from the ceiling. Never removed since the building was put up! xD

It comes down to a single factor: Cost. Is there a REASON to move away from a PC/OS that still does what you need it to do? Do you think mom and pop shops care that XP is a decade old if it still runs the handful of apps they need? Do you think corporations like ensuring every app, security policy, and whatnot works seamlessly when moving OS's?

If it meets their needs, they won't upgrade. It's that simple. Yes, 7 is far better then XP, but for most tasks out there, XP still does the job. And for most people, that's enough,

gamerk2 said:

It comes down to a single factor: Cost. Is there a REASON to move away from a PC/OS that still does what you need it to do? Do you think mom and pop shops care that XP is a decade old if it still runs the handful of apps they need? Do you think corporations like ensuring every app, security policy, and whatnot works seamlessly when moving OS's?

If it meets their needs, they won't upgrade. It's that simple. Yes, 7 is far better then XP, but for most tasks out there, XP still does the job. And for most people, that's enough,

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Its not a matter of "it just works" anymore. I hope everyone has been paying attention.

Think that's bad, when 57% of computers in China rely on Windows XP. At some point Microsoft would have to release their OS's for free.

Here's when to worry: When your payment processor or primary workstation that handles processing payments (like my last job) is still running Windows XP and there is a glaring security hole that will no longer be patched by Microsoft, that's when alarm bells should ring that you need to upgrade to a more secure OS.

However, if it's still handling proprietary programs that has not been updated to run in newer operating systems because of either A) Costs or B) Unwilling developers to update them; or is your work's central print server or similar, then it should be fine so long as it's not handling confidential information of your customers such as credit/debit card information.

This is the danger of running proprietary software.

pcjunkie said:

Its not a matter of "it just works" anymore. I hope everyone has been paying attention.

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I am going to tell you: Developers, testers, and users of software don't give a damn about security until it affects them in some way. And I'm speaking as someone who covers all three of those criteria [I develop/test software]. Be it your small business owner or multinational corporation: Network security is not a major concern.

octoberasian said:

Here's when to worry: When your payment processor or primary workstation that handles processing payments (like my last job) is still running Windows XP and there is a glaring security hole that will no longer be patched by Microsoft, that's when alarm bells should ring that you need to upgrade to a more secure OS.

However, if it's still handling proprietary programs that has not been updated to run in newer operating systems because of either A) Costs or B) Unwilling developers to update them; or is your work's central print server or similar, then it should be fine so long as it's not handling confidential information of your customers such as credit/debit card information.

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Easy solution: Set up an internal network and don't expose your companies payroll information to the Internet.

Not that hard people; if its private, it shouldn't be connected to the Internet in the first place.

octoberasian said:

Here's when to worry: When your payment processor or primary workstation that handles processing payments (like my last job) is still running Windows XP and there is a glaring security hole that will no longer be patched by Microsoft, that's when alarm bells should ring that you need to upgrade to a more secure OS.

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The main reason is because the software they use works, and the training is already done. The move to Windows 7 or 8 would only cost a boat load of money again.

They're waiting for a breach that was caused by Windows Xp specifically. Then they'd likely switch over to linux.

There are very few programs out there that will actually not run on 7 from what I have seen.

Even Office 97 can be coaxed to install and run on 7.

Sure, some programs require workarounds and possibly even some would require recompiling, but it can be done.

Once support officially ends, I feel like sitting back and watching these companies that didn't heed the warning and are still running XP and other old MS OSes.

And I find it funny that people think that these companies running XP will switch to Linux instead of a new version of Windows... are you serious?

As for XP, do this test. Hook up an unpatched XP machine to a cable modem and watch it be completely infected within about 15 minutes. I have done it before. It is kinda scary.

If these companies do not take their security seriously, what makes anybody think that they have a good setup to be secure so nothing reaches their user machines in the first place?

gamerk2 said:

I am going to tell you: Developers, testers, and users of software don't give a damn about security until it affects them in some way. And I'm speaking as someone who covers all three of those criteria [I develop/test software]. Be it your small business owner or multinational corporation: Network security is not a major concern.

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Im not saying thats not how it normally works, however, as someone who claims to be tech literate, your position of "if it works, its fine" is not only negligent, but its THE reason companies resist change.

Yes, 7 is far better then XP, but for most tasks out there, XP still does the job. And for most people, that's enough,

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the primary task should not be "is able to turn on, and able to send an email". It should be "adequately protects your data". And if that is the metric you judge XP based on, then no, it does not 'do the job' anymore, and hasnt for a LONG time.

your position on the subject is reckless and willfully ignorant. I stand by your right to believe whatever crazy nonsense you want, but that doesn't mean it is correct, so stop claiming that it is.

gamerk2 said:

I am going to tell you: Developers, testers, and users of software don't give a damn about security until it affects them in some way. And I'm speaking as someone who covers all three of those criteria [I develop/test software]. Be it your small business owner or multinational corporation: Network security is not a major concern.

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That doesn't in any way make you or them right, or make their lack of give a shit the best thing for them. That's why there are people like me and others here that have common sense and the knowledge to teach those that don't care or know better. Good luck with your bot machine.

My wife and I have 2 PCs with XP ,2 PCs and 2 laptops with Windows 7 and 1 laptop with Windows 8. Betcha can't guess which one we don't use- go ahead take a chance- I dare ya.

The req's for 7 are so low why not run it

As mentioned already the key word is SOMEWHERE. Not EVERYWHERE.

An old box doubling up as a print server. Email spam control, running that old specialist app they spent $2000 getting the guy that wrote it for NT4 to get it working on XP back in 2004.The one box they do CAD work on occasionally that would mean an extra $2000 on AutoCAD if they switched it to 7.

I bet a lot of large companies up until a few years ago had quite a lot of NT4 boxes hidden away.

One thing these reports show is the number of folks here that have never worked in a large IT environment.


"I dunno why they didn't all switch to 7 back in 2009! My gaming rig switched over just fine!"

I learned from my first job with computers one very simple thing. Management does not like spending money. PERIOD. No cavets on that at all!

My boss at the time was still using MS-DOS when WinXP was right around the corner. He had no reason to want to upgrade, and every reason to want to stay where he was. Money. He had custom software that ran in DOS and was very happy with how it worked. He really didn't care about anything else.

While 'Security' might be the end all be all question for you guys, whether to upgrade or not, it never will be for management. Money is always going to be the biggest factor. And quite frankly, there's no reason to upgrade most machines out there. Most aren't even connected to the internet.

A computer is a tool, and if the tool still works, why fix it. I realize that big business need to be careful with customer data, but as has been demonstrated, most don't care until they have a problem. And I've yet to see a security breech headline saying 'because they were using an old operating system, they had no chance!' It's usually because of general bad security practices, such as access.

I still find physical security at least as important, and I find it disgraceful how so few people even consider it. A locked door that no one can easily bypass is a very nice deterrent to doing things to the servers. I saw one business where a dude off the street could walk straight into the server room by accident and there was nothing to prevent it at all, not even a pair of eyeballs.