In a year's time Microsoft will officially retire its Windows XP operating system, and the company is warning New Zealand businesses to upgrade – or be at the mercy of cyber criminals.
XP, now more than 11 years old, still makes up almost 14 percent of all operating systems in New Zealand – around half-a-million Kiwi computers. If users don't upgrade, they're leaving themselves open to increased security risks.
Frazer Scott, marketing and operations director for Microsoft New Zealand, says we now live in a "very different" world to 2001.
"The internet was still quite nascent – we didn't tweet, we didn't update our Facebook statuses, and a lot of technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi were also still quite new."
Mr Scott says Windows XP isn't as secure as more recent operating systems, such as Microsoft's new offering, Windows 8.
"The cyber attacks that we see in the world today have got progressively more advanced."
The company usually only supports its operating systems for 10 years from release, but extended XP's to more than 12 due to its popularity. As recently as 2011 it remained the world's most-used operating system, before being overtaken by Windows 7.
"It's now three generations behind, so it's time to put our energies behind the latest and greatest," says Mr Scott, adding that fewer and fewer third party developers are supporting XP every year.
"Our larger customers, we've been talking to them for a last couple of years about this… businesses need to get a move on."
Watch the video for the full interview with Frazer Scott.
3 News
source: newshub archive
