The public sector was urged not to tie up or commit with any third-party vendors for extended Windows XP as Crown Commercial Service and Microsoft has finalized on an agreement to provide public bodies with another one year of extended support.
CRN mentioned in an exclusive report, that their research found a majority of councils would still continue to use Windows XP after the end-of-support date. A deal has been signed between Microsoft and CCS to offer a 12-month extension on the support for Windows XP.
CRN further stated that “According to a Cabinet Office email sent to public bodies - which CRN has seen via an FOI response - authorities will have the chance to buy extended support for XP as part of a deal Microsoft is set to strike with the CCS.”
CRN understands the deal is likely to be announced sometime next week. However, neither Microsoft nor the Cabinet Office has commented on the matter.
Presently, until the announcement is made public, we are not sure if the Windows XP extended support will be available for end users, private companies or only for public bodies. It is also yet not known if the support will be available worldwide or only to certain continents.
Stay tuned. We will bring you more information as soon as we hear it.
