Microsoft will end support for the ancient, still popular Windows XP on April 8, but that doesn’t mean that every private and public XP user is ready to move on to another operating system. The Dutch government has agreed to pay Microsoft millions of euros in exchange for continued support for its Windows XP PCs, according to ZDNet.
The deal will grant extended Windows XP support for 34,000 to 40,000 Dutch civil servants who work for the national government, which will keep them running until a new operating system is installed by January 2015. At this point, t’s unclear what OS the gov’t will upgrade to.
This support extension comes after the UK government made a similar agreement with Microsoft, forking over more than 5.6 million British pounds for an extra year of XP support. UK government PCs running Office 2003 and Exchange 2003 will also receive security updates during the one year deal.
Though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Avast security exec Ondřej Vlček, and others have warned about XP’s security flaws, many people and businesses will still run the OS after Microsoft drops support, and most of them won’t shell out cash for extended coverage. If you’re still using XP, feel free to take a look at our guide on how to keep your system secure after April 8.
