Why do buisnesses use windows xp

[thirdworldking]

hey guys i have noticed that a lot of companies still use windows xp for their operating system and some times really outdated computers why do they not upgrade?

[Cacao]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It works for what they have to do, so they have no reason to change it. They will upgrade once it breaks or they need to do something that XP can't handle. 

Edited July 6, 2013 by Cacao

[Blade of Grass]

Because most of them either are too cheap, or don't have the budget to update.

[michaeldeve]

they do it because it is too expensive to upgrade all of the computers every few years so they try to stretch it out as long as they can.

[SuperOwnJK]

They would have thousands of computers, so it would cost so much to upgrade  their site license to something like Win 8 or 7. They would also have to train staff who wouldn't be comfortable with the upgrade and a change to their system.

I work in a hotel and once someone removed desktop icon shortcuts from the accountants computers and they freaked out as they weren't able to open programs; they didn't know that the start menu even existed. 

[Fetzie]

You know how much money it costs to buy 500+ Windows licenses, and then the productivity drop until everybody has relearnt how to use their computer?

 

They freaked out as they weren't able to open programs; they didn't know that the start menu even existed.

 

The target demographic for Windows 8? :D

Edited July 6, 2013 by Fetzie

[CrabCreations]

It's a very stable OS that suits the company's needs and at a low price

Edited July 6, 2013 by CrabCreations

[Elven]

Although they use it for their client computers. You also have to remember that servers have to be compatible and vice versa with the client OS. It is expensive to manage and maintain both client and server based systems and usually it is just unfeasible to upgrade.

 

Elven

[Scia]

First of all upgrading all computers of  a big company to Win8 for example is a huge investement. Followed by another investement to train the employees to use the new version of Windows and the decrease in productivity that goes along with learning a new iteration of Windows in the beginning.

 

Google for example uses Windows and Goobuntu [Google optimized Ubuntu 12.04] and they do only upgrade it between 1-2 LTS versions because updating costs them a shit load of money and takes around 6 months.

[kizoku_95]

it may be because it is the most used operating system in the world and most reliable as proven time and again and all other OS are either new and flashy or are old and unusable and corporates need the reliability and the functionality not the luxuries offered by other OS's and a new license is not worth the money so they use the cheap and fool proof OS for their systems 

[thirdworldking]

thank you guys for the responses i just always wondered why

[Eddyall]

Also a lot of them probably don't know that there's something newer and better.

[criso8]

Its not worth the effort of money to upgrade. I think the same goes for telephone systems. Many companies have really old ones because they work just fine and the cost of upgrade is just not worth it.

[qwertywarrior]

well thats not always the case

 

many people in my country  (businesses) stick to windows xp because when most of them switched to vista it was hell

so they just didnt bother

 

if it aint broke

dont fix it

[Purple]

Cheap and most business software is made for windows.

[LogicalDrm]

Some business software's don't update so often and with some updates aren't free of charge. So if OS is running on closed network anyway there's no need to pay for update. Win8 isn't really optimal option for companies anyway. Atleast in company I'm at summerjob, they prefer win7 with new machines.

[FireFox]

Probably because it works perfectly fine, it's still supported till next year so no point in spending the money updating it just yet.

 

Also XP is still a pretty good OS

[ObeseWalrus]

XP is still a really good OS and there is sometimes software that is not supported on newer OS'es

 

 

Fun fact from me: My school just upgraded from XP pro to 7 Enterprise last week.

[tommy-b-10]

XP is still a really good OS and there is sometimes software that is not supported on newer OS'es

 

 

Fun fact from me: My school just upgraded from XP pro to 7 Enterprise last week.

 

My school went to windows 7 last year, and have just begun to upgrade to 8... aha

[MrSuperb]

1. cost of windows licenses

2. cost of staff training

3. losses due to untrained staff

4. Windows Vista is/was terrible.

 

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With the end of support for Windows XP next year, many big corporations started to transit to Windows 7 though.

 

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5. The OS doess't really matter that much after all for most of the work people do.

[ObeseWalrus]

My school went to windows 7 last year, and have just begun to upgrade to 8... aha

Yeah, we just got new Dell laptops too, better than the slow Lenovo thinkpad machines.

[MrSuperb]

they do it because it is too expensive to upgrade all of the computers every few years so they try to stretch it out as long as they can.

 

That is actually not really true. Most bigger companies change their hardware every 3 (to 4) years anyway. Business though often have seperate contracts for software and hardware.

[Blade of Grass]

That is actually not really true. Most bigger companies change their hardware every 3 (to 4) years anyway. Business though often have seperate contracts for software and hardware.

Maybe big companies, but alot of companies aren't big, right.

[Ssoele]

Maybe big companies, but alot of companies aren't big, right.

 

Smaller companies often have even less budget for those things and often no dedicated IT department to handle the problems.

[Nit3Rid3R]

Because a lot of the software works for XP, and they work very well, so upgrading windows tends to have issues with these older software. So why doesn't the software get updated? Because it works perfectly on XP.