XP to be retired...

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Word on the net is that Microsoft plans to drop free support Windows XP and Office 2003 as of next week. On April 14, the Redmond giant ends consumer support for Office 2003 in addition to Windows XP Home and Professional. Crucially this will mean no more bug fixes except for security.

Customers will need to pay for Microsoft assistance from April 14th onwards. Security fixes will still come down the line for Office 2003 and XP until August after which the software will be 'retired.'

Customers can still get non-security critical fixes if they've part of the Extended Support programme. Microsoft is also "retiring" Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, meaning it will no longer provide support for the release.

For the average home user the choices will be continue to use their exisiting software with a potential for vulnerbilities; move to Vista or wait for Windows 7 to appear on the shelves. There has been speculation that this move to finally hammer the last night in the coffin of XP for home users is also a marker for the appearance of Windows 7, but although receieving some favourable comments from beta users there is still some doubts surrounding the new offering from the Redmond boys. Abandoning XP is something Microsoft have been wanting to do for some time, but the universally poor press on the roll out of Vista has delayed this for several years.

The assumption has to be that with the end of XP for non business use, user will finally make the lucretive, for MS at least, jump to a new OS.

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More than half of participants plan to accelerate their adoption of Linux in 2009

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More and more businesses seek to cut costs and find value, they are adopting Linux.

More than half of the IT executives in a recent survey of 300 executives said they planned to accelerate Linux adoption in 2009. 72 percent of said they are either actively evaluating or have already decided to adopt Linux on the server in 2009, with more than 68 percent making the same claim for the desktop.

The number one motivation executives gave for using Linux was economic (lowering support costs). However, those who are reluctant to go with Linux cited lack of application support and poor interoperability with Windows and other environments as their primary concerns. Key survey findings:

* 67 percent of respondents stated that interoperability and manageability between Linux and Windows is one of the most important factors when choosing an operating system.
* The retail industry showed the greatest potential for acceleration in Linux adoption with 63 percent of respondents planning an increase on the desktop and 69 percent considering the same on the server. The government sector lagged.
* Nearly half of respondents stated that moving to virtualization is accelerating their adoption of Linux. Eighty-eight percent of recipients plan to evaluate, deploy or increase their use of virtualization software within Linux operating systems over the next 12-24 months.
* From a regional perspective, Asia/Pacific is the most bullish on increasing Linux adoption, as 73 percent of respondents said they would increase deployments on the server and 70 percent on the desktop. In the Americas, 66 percent of respondents said they are either evaluating or have already decided to increase adoption of Linux on the desktop and 67 percent on the server.
* The economic crisis has had the biggest effect on the Americas, and in financial services and government. More than 62 percent of respondents said that their budget has been cut or that they are only investing where needed.

An IDC white paper1 summarizing the survey findings can be found here

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