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back to article Japan's XP migration solution: Remove network cable

A Japanese local government has come up with a rather unusual solution to the problem of Windows XP migration – keep the venerable OS but disconnect the remaining PCs running it from the internet. In around a year’s time, April 8 2014 to be precise, Microsoft will end free support for the operating system which is still …

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  1. W. Anderson

    While the Japanese as a whole have generally been conservative in regards technology adoption and use, this recommendation by prefectural government of Aichi is asinine in the most descriptive sense.

    If exorbitant costs of upgrading to newer Windows OS, which would most certainly required newer hardware purchases is not possible, why can't these people consider a wholesale move to Linux as was done very successfully by the cities of Munich, Germany, Vienna, Austria and several other municipalities and even large countries' governments.

    After all, very careful evaluations and studies by those migrating to Linux have shown that Windows 7/8 upgrade is not only ridiculously costly without any appreciable productivity gains, but also provide very little additional security functionality over that which Aich has presently.

    Not jumping into the latest technology trends is one thing, but mired mentally in the nineteenth century in regard lack of common sense and innovative thinking is something else all together.

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    1. El Andy
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      Probably because the costs involved in migrating to Linux are many times greater than simply upgrading to the latest version of Windows. Just because the software is free, doesn't mean you can simply swap to it without incurring massive costs.

      The general idea that you can simply disconnect from the network and all the problems of old OS's go away is epically naive, though. The potential security issues is but one very small component in the reasons why sticking on an obsolete and unsupported platform is a terrible idea.

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  2. Irony Deficient

    OS-ocalypse in Japan

    Osaka-lypse, surely?

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  3. Hardwareguy

    Nothing new here.

    There is a certain UK government workplace that has over 3500 Win XP machines, and they are not going to be upgraded. But then again, there is no need. There is no Internet access, outside of the secure LAN.

    Also, I was at Heathrow the other day, and walked past a Delta check-in Kiosk that was going around in an endless Boot Sequence. Windows 98SE !.

    And just a few months ago in Atlanta airport USA, walked past a BA Kiosk that was being opened and worked on. Windows NT4 Workstation. I kid you not !.

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