Dutch government has inked a multi-million Euro deal with Microsoft in order to extend Windows XP support until early 2015, a new report has claimed.
According to the Dutch News report, the government has signed a deal with Microsoft for continued Windows XP support for nearly 40,000 Dutch national government civil servants still running Windows XP.
The report claims that the support has been extended until next January, when all government PCs are scheduled to be migrated to a new system.
The Dutch government’s move follows a similar deal entered into by the British government with Microsoft last week, costing more than £5.6 million, to continue its support for nearly 20,000 government computers still running Windows XP for another one year.
The UK government said it expects the majority of its organisations to migrate away from the XP platform by April 2015. The deal will see Microsoft providing security updates for XP, Office 2003, and Exchange 2003 software being used on UK public sector PCs.
As earlier announced, Microsoft is going to cease support for the 13-year-old Windows XP on April 8, with the final security patches with the upcoming Patch Tuesday, leaving the systems still using the platform potentially exposed to security threats.
Microsoft is repeatedly warning its users to upgrade from Windows XP in order to stay protected with the latest security patches.
“It’s really critical that consumers who still own Windows XP devices recognize that it’s not just about upgrading to something new,” said Microsoft.
“This is about protecting your PC from security threats, especially if you are using the internet. Windows XP wasn’t designed for today’s mobile, always-connected lives, or for protecting businesses and individuals from the millions of new online security threats that have emerged.”
