nhs to get windows xp extended support from microsoft

[nemesismk2]

Whitehall is negotiating a deal with Microsoft to prevent thousands of NHS computers from falling victim to hackers targeting Windows XP from April.

The government and Microsoft are in talks to offer extended security support to NHS PCs running Windows XP that miss an 8 April deadline to ditch the OS.

The Department of Health has exclusively told The Register it’s in talks with Microsoft to develop a migration plan to move PCs off of Windows XP.

A major plank of that deal will see Microsoft offer what the DoH terms “extended support”* – at a cost.

Extended support is not a cheap option and means the taxpayer will foot the bill for the NHS’s failure to hit the April deadline to move.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/nhs_microsoft_win_xp_extended_support

 

[MustISO]

That makes sense. It's a much better idea than updating their systems to a more secure OS several years ago. Maybe they just found out about the XP end of life. Bet they're keeping Office 2003 as well.

 

[nemesismk2]

Some parts of the nhs use windows 7 like if you work as an office admin so i don't know where the windows xp computers would be used.

 

[Aroundthebend]

I recently had to visit our local hospital, every computer i saw (albeit 5 or so) were still running xp, with the blue bars&meadow landscape.

 

[bbhaag]

I recently had to visit our local hospital, every computer i saw (albeit 5 or so) were still running xp, with the blue bars&meadow landscape.

My families general practitioners office is the same way. Every time I go in I see the XP Professional screensaver bouncing around the monitor. Same thing at my kids schools.

 

[imagoon]

What's even better is none of those patches will be released to the public if they follow NT4 / 2000 policies in the past. So if want to keep using XP and be patched, pay up.

 

[Steltek]

Yet another example of what happens when incompetent government scientist-bureaucrats (i.e. the scientists who would otherwise be sleeping under an overpass somewhere if they had to make an actual living as actual scientists) do IT budget planning. In the real world terms, it superficially resembles what happens when you hand a raving alcoholic a quart of Jack and a set of car keys - nothing good.

I'll bet the senior executives didn't forget their large senior executive bonuses in that budgeting, though. Nobody said they were stupid - just incompetent.

 

[escrow4]

Or, alternatively, you could refuse support and watch the NHS collapse in a writhing malware mess, thus serving as the perfect warning as what happens when you don't upgrade.

 

[ninaholic37]

Or, alternatively, you could refuse support and watch the NHS collapse in a writhing malware mess, thus serving as the perfect warning as what happens when you don't upgrade.

I think they have bigger problems than that. They can't even figure out what the problem is with my knees, my dad's stomach, and my mom's hands. Secure OS won't help people if NHS is useless at helping people to begin with.

 

[pw257008]

I recently had to visit our local hospital, every computer i saw (albeit 5 or so) were still running xp, with the blue bars&meadow landscape.

i really hate that background.

 

[nemesismk2]

i really hate that background.

i prefer the desktop which just says microsoft windows xp professional but i can't remember the name of the image.

 

[sm625]

They should be firewalling their systems beyond the security level of any stock windows systems, even 8.1. It isnt that hard to lock down all the ports and disable any services and processes that have holes, which is just about anything. Hell the computer doesnt even need to have any internet access. All internet could be routed through virtualisation (like a citrix receiver) where it is their host server who makes all the connections to the outside world. As long as that system is secure, all those that connect through it will be. At least compared to a stock win 8.1 system using a local internet explorer.