By Brad Reed
Source: Yahoo News
Microsoft has a problem: It desperately wants any remaining Windows XP
users to upgrade to a newer version of the operating system but a huge
chunk of them still haven’t budged. The latest numbers from
NetMarketShare show that Windows XP still accounts for around 29.5% of
all desktops in use even though Microsoft is due to end support for the
13-year-old platform on April 8th. ZDNet reports that Microsoft
plans to pester remaining XP holdovers starting next week by sending
them pop-up notifications reminding them — again — that it will end XP
support within a month.
However, as Computerworld
reports, Microsoft may have a tough time convincing some Windows XP
users to upgrade because it’s trying to sell them on Windows 8, the
hugely polarizing operating system that has angered many longtime PC
users by eliminating the traditional Start menu and by adding the touch-centric Live Tiles interface a staple feature. Computerworld writes that many Windows users expressed anger last month when Microsoft
asked them to help switch as many people as they could from Windows XP
to Windows 8.1 in part because Microsoft hasn’t offered any sort of
discount for Windows XP users making the switch.
This
is particularly irksome, these users said, because switching from XP to
Windows 8.1 won’t just require a software upgrade but will instead
likely force them to buy new machines capable of running Microsoft’s new
touch-centric OS. Some users were also annoyed that Microsoft only
mentioned Windows 8.1 and not Windows 7 as upgrade possibilities.
In
the end, it looks like when Microsoft ends support for Windows XP next
month there will still be a huge chunk of the desktop PC world using the
platform. Hackers who have been saving up all their best new malware
for the day when Windows XP support ends are about to have a field day.
This article was originally published on BGR.com
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