That right: London’s finest is relying on 27,000 machines running Windows XP.
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London Assembly member Andrew Boff told the BBC that the number of XP computers still in use stands at around 27,000, and will drop to 21,000 by the end of September.
Since April 2014, Microsoft stopped patching Windows XP for free, meaning that London’s Metropolitan Police is paying for a Microsoft Custom Support Agreement in order to keep receiving security updates for the old operating system. That said, to force everyone into abandoning the old platform, Microsoft really needs to let cut all ties.
Microsoft is now cutting through the confusion surrounding Skylake support, and is declaring that ALL Skylake machines running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be FULLY supported until the extended support period ends for each operating system.
“My major concern is the security of Londoners’ information on this dangerously out-of-date system, but I would also like to know how much money the Met have wasted on bespoke security updates”.
By then they might be finished upgrading, considering they plan to have another 8,000 done by the end of next month. “Once completed it will be more straightforward to make the next upgrade to Windows 10 as they share a common kernel – we are starting to work with Microsoft on the upgrade to Windows 10″.
The new policy, announced in a blog post today by Shad Larsen, director of Windows business planning at Microsoft, now respects Microsoft’s originally published Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 product lifecycle support policies.
Microsoft has backed down over its decision to shorten support for Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs with Intel’s sixth-generation Skylake processor technology following enterprise customer outcry.
Microsoft has backed down on its plan to hustle owners of certain PCs to Windows 10 by crimping support options. “Until the Met Police gets all of its Windows XP systems upgraded, I would also recommend doubling down on monitoring the network and hunting for threats as a possible mitigation strategy”.
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Notably, Microsoft not only retained the original retirement dates for Skylake PCs running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, but promised that the idea of delivering only critical updates is also dead. And, even though Windows 10 is described by Microsoft as “Windows as a service”, it still follows the old 10-year lifecycle support policy.
