On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 9:00 AM, Bob Crook <rcr...@grandecom.net> wrote: > >
. . . at 5:23 PM, Bob Crook <rcr...@grandecom.net> wrote: >> How secure will open office be with Windows XP after Microsoft stops >> supporting? I have been using Office 2003 with Win XP ser pack 3 >> >> Thanks for moving this to the public list. I think this is something that will be of general interest. 82% of our users run Microsoft Windows, and of those 15% run Windows XP. As most of us know Microsoft has announced "End of Support" for April 8th, next week. After that date there will be no more security patches provided by Microsoft. Details on their website: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/end-of-support.aspx I've seen predictions from some experts that hackers likely have a ready inventory of zero-day attacks against Windows XP that they will wait until after April 8th to use. When you think of it, that is their optimal strategy, to strike when Windows XP users are most numerous and most unprotected. The longer they wait after April 8th, the fewer Windows XP machines will be around. So personally I would not want to be running Windows XP anywhere after April 8th. The risk to users and businesses goes up considerably after that date. >From the perspective of AOO security, there are two components to think about: 1) Latent security flaws in the AOO code 2) Latent security flaws in Windows XP For the first set, we fix those when they are discovered and our fixes should continue to work on Windows XP as well. For the 2nd set, issues in Windows XP, we might in some cases be able to workaround such issues in our code. But there are limits to what we can do on our end. There is also the likelihood, over time, that it becomes difficult for us to even remain compatible with Windows XP. As we increase support for features of Windows 8, and as Microsoft compilers, libraries and development tools advance, and may not be possible for to continue with XP support. We recently had to drop support for earlier versions of Mac OS for a similar reason. Regards, -Rob --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org