The US Navy is paying Microsoft $9.1 million for continued Windows XP support

Officially, Microsoft ended support of its 13-year old operating system Windows XP over a year ago. Yet, even with all that time, many government and military organizations are still using the outdated OS on their PCs, and are paying Microsoft for special support. The latest example is he US Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, who has signed a $9.1 million contract extension with Microsoft that will allow the company to keep offering Windows XP software update for that division.

According to Ars Technica:

"The renewal, according to SPAWAR officials, will buy the Navy "time to migrate from its existing reliance on the expiring product versions to newer product versions approved for use in Ashore and Afloat networks, and will provide hotfixes to minimize risks while ensuring support and sustainability of deployed capabilities." Many of the systems are in shipboard administrative networks that have not been available for extended periods of maintenance; the Navy is also playing catch-up on its land-based network upgrades as the result of the long delays in the service's Next Generation Network (NGEN) contract—the follow-up to the outsourced Navy and Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI)."

Despite its age and its lack of official support, the latest data from Net Applications shows that Windows XP was used by 14.60% of all PCs worldwide in May 2015.

Source: Ars Technica