IRS Misses Windows XP Deadline, Pays Microsoft About Half a Million for Support

Remember a couple weeks ago when we found out that the British Government had to pay Microsoft about $9.2 million to extend Windows XP support for the entire country for another year? It turns out that our cousins across the ocean aren’t the only OS delinquents out there: ComputerWorld reported late last week that the US Government’s Internal Revenue Service also missed the XP support cutoff, and had to make a similar deal. A bit ironic, considering how the IRS is typically a stickler for getting things done on time.

According to the post, the IRS paid Microsoft “less than $500,000” for an extension of Windows XP support, apparently because the transition from XP to Windows 7 is just taking a bit too long. In fact, the post says that the IRS has “approximately 110,000 of Windows-powered desktops and notebooks. Of those, 52,000, or about 47%, have been upgraded to Windows 7. The remainder continue to run the now retired XP.” The delay is apparently the result of “budget issues” that have put “$300 million worth of IT improvements on hold.”

The post also hilariously points out that Microsoft already has the end-of-support date for Windows 7 picked out. Support for that operating system is currently scheduled for six years from now, in January 2020. One would hope that, by then, Microsoft will either have ironed out all the quirks that make people hate Windows 8, or simply moved onto a better OS with Windows 9 or whatever.

Oh, and don’t forget: tomorrow’s tax day here in the United States. Even though the IRS didn’t manage to get its act together well enough to meet the XP support deadline, the agency still expects you to file your taxes by tomorrow or suffer the consequences. Nice guys, right?

[Source: ComputerWorld]