Microsoft slashes Windows XP custom support prices

Reduces after-retirement support costs for large enterprises as much as 95%

[bill]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9247708/Microsoft_slashes_Windows_XP_custom_support_prices_just_days_before_axing_public_patches [computerworld.com]

Microsoft slashes Windows XP custom support prices just days before axing public patches

Just days before Microsoft retired Windows XP from public support, the company drastically reduced the price of custom support agreements that give large companies and government agencies another year of XP patches, experts reported today.

[engine]

Wow, that's a huge drop in price. I wonder if there's a linked commitment in there to upgrade.

[bill]

I haven't heard that is a stipulation. A lot of enterprise clients that are stuck on XP are there for a reason. It's usually because the significant investments they put into systems development makes it less expensive to pay Microsoft for continued support rather than re-design their systems. Upgrading wouldn't be an option in a lot of cases.

[Robert Charlton]

Microsoft may be using some interesting sales practices here. These, and several others, posted on April 16, 2014....

Today on all Windows XP computers stopped working Microsoft Antimalware Service
[social.technet.microsoft.com...]

The company with the number of computers based on Windows XP - 200 pcs .
The company installed System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager.
Today on all computers with Windows XP service startup problem Microsoft Antimalware Service.

Bug in Microsoft Security Essentials lames Windows XP
[answers.microsoft.com...]

Since the end of support for Windows XP, strange things happen on some computers with the formentioned operating system using Microsoft Security Essentials....

I am a professional computer engineer and maintain many desktops and laptops for my customers on a daily base: as of today (April 16th) I have seen about 12 computers on which Windows XP - after every boot up - throws up an error message referring to MSE, stating: "MsMpEng.exe application error. The instruction at "0x5a4d684d" referenced memory at "0x00000000" The memory could not be read", leaving the computer in an unusable state...

I'm not suggesting that Microsoft is doing this on purpose, but I can't imagine that this situation is coincidental.... And how is Redmond supposed to fix this problem when those computers are not responding anymore, apart from the fact that updates and hotfixes are no longer offered?

A patch that Microsoft later supplied seemed to fix the problem for some and not for others.