If you are looking at keeping XP from an economic standpoint, keeping the OS is a good decision. Like I have said before, keeping XP is not going to be all the doom and 
gloom that some are trying to portray in other articles.
Think about it, the only solid choice that you have is Windows 7 and Microsoft will likely abandon that OS on us before you know it and you will be again stuck with a needed upgrade.
For most of us, Windows 8 is not an option. The wise decision and the most economically feasible one is to wait till the release of Windows 9, which promises to be more like Windows 7 from an interface standpoint.
In many organizations, some the software that is used will only run on XP. You might be using an older version of Quick Books or maybe proprietary software that cannot be easily duplicated or purchased. In many cases it would be extremely expensive to get newer versions of these programs and that would be on top of replacing your computers and adding the new operating system. This is simply just not a viable solution for many businesses. This is especially true if all your systems are good working computers.
So if you are deciding on keeping XP in your organization, what can I do to extend its life? First, be sure your anti-virus choice is going to keep supporting XP. I believe that most of the major vendors will do so at least to the release of Windows 9. Even Security Essentials is going to supply virus definitions for XP for what they call “a limited time”. You should be able to get drivers for most of your existing hardware with no problem. If a major component fails on your system, you might start having difficulty obtaining parts that are compatible.
Her is another obstacle that you might have to hurdle over. What if you have to get a new version of Office and it will not run on your Windows XP system? Well low and behold there is a way to do it. There is a tool called ThinApp by Vmware. This software allows you to deploy incompatible software to Windows XP computers by the use of a virtual shell. With this technology, you can run new programs on older operating systems or old programs on new operating systems.
So what about security? This seems to be the big question when it comes to keeping XP. Well for starters, nothing hugely drastic is going to happen on April 9th. Windows XP is going to exactly the same as it was a year ago. You will see no differences. If you are a careful surfer and you normally do get viruses every few days, you will likely be just fine using XP. There will be some vulnerability that will not be patched but careful surfing will help you as safe as possible.
In short, if your business has good working XP machines, keep on using them. With some common sense and good surfing habits, you can extend the world’s favorite operating system by another couple of years.
Article posted by, Ross A Deprey
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