

By upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7, Microsoft claims businesses can save money in support costs and reallocate those funds to other areas.

Most businesses don't give a flying flip about owning the latest and greatest product just for the sake of having it, especially when their current solution is working. Case in point, there are still thousands of IT departments rocking Windows XP, both because it works and also because it's perceived as being too costly to upgrade. But is it really?Not according to Microsoft , which hammered out a blog post that essentially pleads with businesses running Windows XP to upgrade to Windows 7, if for no other reason than to save money. Wait, what?"Organizations that continue to retain a Windows XP environment not only are leaving themselves exposed to security risks and support challenges, but also are waiting budget dollars that would be better used in modernizing their IT investments," International Data Corporation (IDC) stated in a whitepaper funded by Microsoft.Microsoft points out some key findings in IDC's whitepaper, all of which come to the conclusion that "staying on Windows XP is an expensive investment when Windows 7 provides dramatic savings." For example, IDC found that base IT and end user labor costs supporting Windows XP is now about five times more than the cost of running Windows 7. Those are wasted funds, as far as Microsoft is concerned.If all that weren't enough, putting off the inevitable only leads to higher costs in the long run."IDC found the longer you wait, the pricier supporting Windows XP gets: IT labor costs go up 25 percent in the fourth year of continuing to run Windows XP past deadline, and user productivity suffers as well, with an increased cost of 23 percent. In the fifth year, IT labor increases by an additional 29 percent, and user productivity costs jump up a staggering 40 percent," Microsoft says.You can read Microsoft's full argument for upgrading here