TIME is finally running out for the 500m or so people around the
world who still rely on Windows XP to perform their daily
computing chores. In less than a year, Microsoft will leave
them—your correspondent included—to fend for themselves. There
will be no more security patches, bug fixes and free (or even
paid) online assistance, as the firm ends its extended support
for this operating system four years after it ceased offering
mainstream support for the product. From April 8th next year,
anyone who continues to use Windows XP will be at the mercy of
hackers who find fresh ways to exploit vulnerabilities in the
12-year-old operating system and applications that run on it.
Windows XP (for “eXPerience”) was launched in 2001. It went on
to became the most popular operating system ever, with more than
800m users. Though it hails from three generations ago (having
been officially replaced by Windows Vista in 2007, Windows 7 in
2009 and Windows 8 in 2012), it still runs on 39% of computers
currently in use. Only