More than half the attendees of Microsoft’s TechEd conference were still using Windows XP, according to a snapshot survey.
A month after support for the aged operating system expired, 53% of more than 100 respondents at the TechEd North America 2014 event in May told IT management firm Adaptiva they still relied on XP.
Around 15% of them admitted that they had purchased extended support from Microsoft, while 25% said they feared getting malware and bugs, as Redmond no longer issues patches for the OS.
The study, carried out at this month’s TechEd North America 2014 event, found compatibility issues to be the most common obstacle to migration, cited by 29%, followed by the time it takes, at 15%.
Moreover, nearly half the respondents came from companies with more than 10,000 laptops, desktops and servers, including 13% with over 100,000 such electronic devices.
However, while 80% ran System Center Configuration Manager – which automatically updates software and manages PCs and servers – 31% said the complexity of getting the task sequence right was holding them back from automating OS migration.
Respondents also showed stronger than anticipated adoption of Windows 8, with 17% moving to Windows 8 or a mixed Windows 7 and 8 environment.
Windows 7 support ends on January 13, 2015, before Windows Server 2003 expires in July 2015.
