I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but April 2014 is only 7 months away. Why is that important? Many of you know where I'm going with this, but for those that don't, Windows XP extended support ends on April 8, 2014. In the scheme of all things IT 7 months is a very, very short time. I fear that many companies will not make the deadline so I've been doing my dead-level best to talk about it a lot over the past couple weeks.
Why talk about it so much?
If there's one thing I definitely retained from cartoons as a kid, it was a saying from the 1985 G.I. Joe animated series. Every episode ended with a sort of Public Service Announcement (PSA) that had an almost Aesop's Fables feel to it. During each episode, amidst the action, intrigue and the beat-down placed on Cobra minions, the writers embedded teachable moments that culminated in a lesson at the very end. Some I remember are:
- "Remember, don't play around electric wires or you could be playing with fire."
- "A candy bar might give you a quick boost of energy, but after 20 minutes, you'll feel run down. So let's eat smart!"
- "Remember, anything worth doing is worth planning."
And then at the end of the lesson, one of the Joe's would say, "Now you know, and knowing is half the battle."
That always stuck with me, and is probably one of the reasons why I am a sharing, community type of person today. I rarely keep anything to myself, particularly if I believe it will help someone else. If I have specific knowledge that could someone else some time, effort, and pain, then I will stick it on a billboard if that's what it takes.
So, here's your billboard.
In IT, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks and forget that there's a deadline looming that is as critical and as troubling as this one. How troubling is it? NetMarketShare shows that Windows XP still owns almost 40% of operating system market. That's huge, and frankly, a gigantic problem. If that number doesn't change much Microsoft may extend the deadline again, but you can't count on that. Seriously. Windows XP RTM'd on August 24, 2001 and released to the public on October 25, 2001 making it the longest living Microsoft OS that has ever existed. Apparently, we love Windows XP, but, when it goes, it's gone.
I know many of you already have the Windows XP problem in hand, but according to the stats there are many that don't. There are a number of reasons why, and I posted up a very quick survey a couple days ago to try and gather together all the reasons. Some of you have already participated in the survey, but I'd really love to get as much participation as possible so the data is as accurate as possible.
If you've already participated, send the link along to someone else you know. If you haven't yet, drop out to the following link. It truly only takes 20 seconds.
http://windowsitpro.com/windows-xp/what-bogging-down-your-windows-xp-migration-plans
