Along with the final Windows XP update tomorrow, Microsoft's Windows XP will be no longer supported, updated, or patched by Microsoft. Chances are hardware running Windows XP for the most part is also in need of upgrading to newer more modern hardware and Operating Systems after 12+ years. If you should continue to run Windows XP be mindful after the Microsoft official support ends. The largest concern is exploits announced in other Microsoft platforms will no longer be patched for XP leaving a potential sweet spot for hackers exploit.

Most current software from Autodesk as well as most other software vendors has already been, or will be discontinuing official support for Windows XP as it is extremely difficult to program software to work on current OS and APIs and shoehorn in fixes or hack ways for new software and features to run on OS that did not have certain APIs and features. The support of older OS for software is a real cost of resources for software companies and the further they must support back the less they can implement new features.

I am currently a Windows 7 and Mac OSX user with a foot in each of the major platforms but also looking to update my Windows Tablet to Windows 8.1 since Microsoft has finally seen the error of their ways with the dual personality Windows 8 now coming back with a long awaited unified desktop mode and start button. As much as I loved Windows XP back in the days, it is no longer being updated or has the same amount of security built in for todays computer security threats and vulnerabilities.

The world is not ending, and the world will certainly go on after Windows XP but if you have some XP machines you should strongly consider their future after tomorrows final update.