Windows XP Holdouts Will Reportedly Pay Double for Microsoft Support

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Another nudge to get businesses to upgrade

Even the floppy disk would have to be impressed with how long Windows XP has been able to hold onto relevance. Sure, most of the world has moved on, but there are still a lot of Windows XP machines out there, especially in various enterprise sectors. Rather than upgrade, businesses can ink custom support agreements (CSAs) with Microsoft to continue receiving support. However, it's being reported that the cost of those Windows XP CSAs are about to double.
According to ComputerWorld and an anonymous licensing expert it spoke with, the price per PC for a Windows XP CSA will be $400 with a cap of $500,000 starting in April. Included as part of these CSAs are ongoing critical security updates for the retired OS, allowing businesses to continue using the aged OS.
Microsoft dropped the price to $200 with a cap of $250,000 last year just days before it retired Windows XP. The intent was to give businesses a little more time to get their ducks in a row and migrate to a newer OS. It's an annual program, and those who haven't made plans to upgrade will see their costs go back up when their contracts expire, the first of which will take place in a couple of months.
It will be interesting to see what effect that has on Windows XP's market share. As it stands, Windows XP is on nearly 21 percent of the world's PCs, according to Net Applications. That comes out to over 300 million computers, though StatCounter reports XP's market share at 12 percent.
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