Computerworld
- Microsoft
yesterday added ammunition to its increasingly aggressive battle to get users
off the nearly-11-year-old Windows XP by citing a company-sponsored report that
claims annual support costs for the older OS are more than five times that of
Windows 7.
Microsoft has been banging the Windows XP upgrade drum for
years, but stepped up the campaign in 2012, including starting a "two-year countdown" to the demise of security support.
Last month, Microsoft was blunt, saying "If your organization has not
started the migration to a modern PC, you are late."
Windows
XP exits all support, including monthly security patches, in April 2014.
In a blog post Thursday, Erwin Visser, a senior
director for Windows, used data collected by IDC to make Microsoft's upgrade
case.
"The bottom line...[is
that] businesses that migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 will see significant
return on investment," said Visser.
Microsoft sponsored the survey conducted by IDC, which in turn interviewed nine enterprises or large
organizations to drill into the