About 35,000 computers used at a governmental and administrative level in Romania will be affected by Microsoft’s withdrawal of technical support for Windows XP. In the next 12 months, the number could exceed 100,000, reports local business daily Ziarul Financiar.

As of April 8, support and updates for Windows XP are no longer available, which will affect the many computers used by various Romanian institutions. Without updates, computers running this operating system might become more vulnerable to viruses and other programs that might affect their security.

“To prevent the effects of the technical support withdrawal, we have antivirus, we have hardware and software systems that protect public systems and we are willing to renegotiate a new contract with Microsoft, taking in consideration that Microsoft will submit a financial proposal,” said the Minister for Information Society, Razvan Cotovelea, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

He added that there is no problem whatsoever for the computers used by the public officials at a central and local level.

Microsoft has ended support of Windows XP on Tuesday (April 8). In a statement, the company said that “Microsoft provided support for Windows XP for the past 12 years. But the time came for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences”.

Windows is currently selling its Windows 8.1 version. Windows XP was launched in 2001, the Vista followed in 2006, then Windows 7 in 2009, and Windows 8 in 2012.

(in picture, the famous Windows XP wallpaper)

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com