As we’re sure many of you guys have heard by now, Windows XP is officially no longer supported by Microsoft. The operating system is still alive and kicking but it is no longer being supported, meaning that updates designed to protect the computer from viruses and malware will no longer be issued.
This isn’t good news for businesses and governments that still rely heavily on Windows XP and have yet to make the switch. Last we heard, Microsoft was charging very high prices to keep adding support until these organizations or government agencies had the opportunity to upgrade. Well it turns out Microsoft has had a change of heart and is now offering a discount.
In a statement released by Microsoft to ZDNet, “We’ve been working with customers and partners on the migration from Windows XP since we announced in September 2007 that support for Windows XP would end on April 8. 2014. As part of this effort, we’ve made custom support more affordable so large enterprise organizations could have temporary support in place while they migrate to a more modern and secure operating system.”
Microsoft did not state how big the discount was but according to ZDNet’s source, one customer had an original quote of $85 million to cover his entire company reduce to $3 million which is an extremely huge discount. ComputerWorld on the other hand has cited its own sources which claims that the ceiling for the custom coverage is set at $250,000, with a price of $250 per device which admittedly sounds a lot more reasonable.
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