UK.gov confirms it's binned extended Windows XP support
Laggard agencies understand the risks and can cope, says GDS
The UK government has decided, as foreshadowed by The Reg, that it can do without extended support for Windows XP.
The nation signed up for Microsoft's super-special zombie OS support service – aka a Custom Support Agreement - last year, but a recent meeting of government Technology Leaders decided enough is enough. A post on the Government Technology Blog says the Leaders “took a collective decision to not extend the support arrangement for 2015.”
A support agreement that ended in April was therefore not renewed.
That decision doesn't mean all UK government agencies have moved on from XP. The post says “There has been good progress in moving away from Windows XP across departments and government organisations and with many public bodies this transition is complete.”
But an undiscussed number of agencies are still running XP, at least on some machines, leading the government digital service to suggest “We expect most remaining government devices using Windows XP will be able to mitigate any risks, using the CESG guidance.”
Such agencies “... may need to review their own short term transition support,” the post suggests, helpfully.
As we've reported, agencies including the Metropolitan Police, the NHS and HMRC are still to finish XP migration projects. ®