Malware Infection Rate on Windows XP PCs Up by 66% after April 2014-Microsoft Says

Microsoft ups the scare factor for Windows XP users after April 8, 2014, the date when Microsoft stops providing support for the old operating system. Tim Rains, director of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, claimed in a corporate blog post that the malware infection rate of PCs running on Windows XP could increase by up to 66 percent after April 2014. To bolster his claims and to further emphasize the advantages of upgrading to a much more modern operating system, Rains then included statistics culled and generated by Microsoft.

"After end of support, attackers will have an advantage over defenders who continue to run Windows XP," Rains wrote. "After April next year, when we release monthly security updates for supported versions of Windows, attackers will try and reverse engineer them to identify any vulnerabilities that also exist in Windows XP. If they succeed, attackers will have the capability to develop exploit code to take advantage of them."

Writing for Computerworld, Gregg Keizer observed that Microsoft had been very vocal about the danger Windows XP users are facing after support for the OS is no longer provided. Keizer also noted that Microsoft had been "belittling the creaky OS's security prowess, even attacking it at times," which he said was a far cry from how Microsoft simply ignored the Windows Vista debacle.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions, weighed in and said, "You never heard Microsoft tell Windows Millennium users that they had to upgrade."

Cherry also pointed out that this was a first for Microsoft. "Pre-XP, there were always sufficient changes to the underlying hardware and the operating system to prompt people to upgrade to newer PCs and a new Windows. With XP that didn't happen. It's the first time when we've had insufficient hardware changes. XP was the first Windows that was 'good enough.' So this isn't like before," he said.

It was reported in August that after April 2014, Microsoft's security engineers would still create patches for Windows XP for several years. However, the patches will only be made available to the large enterprises and organizations that paid for contracts entailing them to receive special support.

According to Net Applications, the user share of Windows XP was 35 percent of all Windows editions used worldwide as of the end of September. Microsoft said that in the enterprise sector, 75 percent of PCs were on Windows 7.

Gartner analyst Lawrence Pingree said, "Anyone can understand why any OS manufacturer wants to dedicate resources for new versions of their OS. However, security patch availability should be based on market share and penetration rates, otherwise the manufacturer does a disservice to its customers."

For resellers, the looming end of support for the OS was seen as a chance to sell more upgrades. Microsoft distributor Tech Data has been goading resellers lately to sell more upgrades, saying that one out of three users may still be running Windows XP.

Meanwhile, IDC and Gartner weighed in on the effect of Windows XP upgrades on PC sales and put forward conflicting views. (KOM) Link. Link.