Why it's finally time to ditch Windows XP

It's been over 11 years since Windows XP has come to our life and it still remains one among the most popular operating systems of all time. It's a truth -- with over 40% share among all other operating systems, it hasn't faded away from the Windows family. Even though Microsoft launched various operating systems over time, Windows XP is still considered to be the most popular one and most used and the simplest one, yet. Even the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft's latest in line of the Windows family, haven't made much impact on Windows XP's share. People still love it, and use it for almost all their work. They aren't even wary that Windows XP as very much time left.

It's true that even enterprises rely on Windows XP for their day-to-day works. Windows XP has remained people's choice and has the easiest interface that people are already familiar with and thus, XP has always been a great choice to simplify the tasks. But, with the end of support, this won't be the case. It's more like forcing them to move on to a higher level of OS -- Vista, 7 or 8 with 7 being the recommended one. As Vista was not much popular, especially since it was a lot of buggy amidst its value for security. Thus, we can expect Vista too, to fade away very soon.

But I agree with Microsoft for choosing this decision. As a matter of fact, it's high time to switch to a different OS. I'll detail this in a way it benefits both the company, and the users. It's clear that this has a lot of benefit for the company. First of all, it will boost the economy with more sale of the newer generations of Windows. It'd be great if people gets switched to Windows 8 as that could really boost the value to a greater level. But I don't at all, expect to see this as people would only prefer Windows 7 and Windows 8 makes it more difficult as it's a whole new UI. However, Windows 7 and Windows XP are, moreover, alike in many aspects. But, this transition can also result in a lot of loss for Microsoft if greater share of people won't be switching by the time the deadline comes.  It's sure that people would really be unhappy with this decision but it's not at all a painful one.

Once, I too had a feeling that Windows 7 would be difficult to master and always held to XP. However, when I first tried via a virtual machine, I really started to like it. It was simple, if you just tried to take a look at it. However, it would surely feel difficulty if you just stand there and watch it. The experience of using and seeing has a lot of difference. And what a difference it made when I switched to Windows 7. It surely fastened my PC and reduced security risks upto a great extent. This, however, was not the case with XP. Windows XP would occasionally be targets to major viruses and it's always a rare case to see such a system escape without even being hit somewhere pretty hard. I am telling this because I have experienced it a lot from my school's systems.

Yup, not only big businesses  but common workplaces like schools, banks, railway stations and many other organisations would be hit pretty hard once they hear the news. However, as I mentioned above, it's not at all a painful transition and with the great deals and decaying support for XP, it's worthy to consider this.

So, to put it in a nutshell, here are the key points where you need to concentrate, detailing the risks and the minor hardships you're going to face.

• Tick, tick, tick! Just 500 days to go for the deadline of the extended support for Windows XP. The deadline date is April 2014. That's really short.
• Windows XP is one of the most easiest targets for all kinds of security threats -- ranging from simple viruses to even total system hijacks. You may even lose all your files and data.
• By the time, there won't be any updates, or security patches available for Windows XP. Even if the threat is a major one, Windows XP won't be fixed at all by Microsoft. If you're still planning to use it, you may need to find rare shortcuts to do this.
• The future programs, games and other utilities won't support Windows XP. So, you will need to rely on former versions.
• Switching to a newer Windows may seem hard at first, but, once you get on with it, it really becomes simple.
• However, offices and institutions will face hard work moving all their stuff to the upgraded systems.

I really miss the times I saw this. I always get excited every time I see this.

So, in my verdict, I will simply recommend you to upgrade Windows XP from the very moment you read this. In my opinion, Windows 7 is the perfect option. Windows 8, however, is really a nice OS but it's not a necessity. Windows 7 has all the tools required to meet the requirements for a perfect operating systems. With great deals, it's really cheap to make the switch. I hope Microsoft soon comes up with some propaganda sort of stuff to make people aware of these stuff. It'd be really hard to make the whole 40% switch on the very last day, they won't be liking that.

In the end, I want to tell you that I actually am not blaming Windows XP at all. It was one hell of an operating systems of the time and I was really in love with it. No other OS gave me that satisfaction. But with time, we really gotta keep moving. It maybe hard to leave your favourite companion, but that's the only choice in front of you. Whatever be, Windows XP will always be the greatest operating systems of all time -- not just evolutionary, but revolutionary.