GN says goodbye to Windows XP
More than 3,000 computers will be upgraded to Windows 8.1 by March 2015
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 19, 2014
IQALUIT
Despite its long-standing allegiance to Windows XP, the Government of Nunavut is logging off the popular operating system over the next year.
Roughly 3,100 government computers will have migrated to Windows 8.1 from XP by March 2015, according to Dean Wells, chief corporate information officer of the information planning and services division at Community and Government Services.
"Right now at the GN we have a few sample pilot machines put in and built for each division," he said.
"Most divisions such as Health, Justice and Education have their own form of custom software and we want to make sure they function under Windows 8.1. Unlike home where you can just pop in a CD and click to install, it's not quite that easy."
The government's test phase will include client departments, which will do their own testing, and deploying virtual servers in each community to allow users to run Windows 8.1 in virtual environments.
"When you get a demanding operating system like Windows 8.1, with its memory demands, coupled with running applications on it, well you start biting nails wondering if it's going to work," Wells said.
"Not having the full results back from the test phase, by virtualizing things we can run these applications and if they're too intense to virtualize we'll replace the units."
Released on Oct. 25, 2001, Windows XP quickly gained popularity and was installed on 76 per cent of all computers at its peak in 2007.
It it estimated to still be running on 25 per cent of computers worldwide.
On April 8, Microsoft stopped offering free support and updates to individual users for the operating system.
The date was little surprise to individual users and business, since it had been announced by Microsoft in 2007, yet many governments chose not to upgrade their systems.
The British and Dutch governments for example, so enamored with the software, decided to pay Microsoft millions of dollars for an extended year of support.
Wells said the government, which replaces its computers every three years, considered going down the same route but ultimately decided not to.
"The amount we would have to pay Microsoft is almost enough money for me to deploy Windows 8.1 across the territory," he said, adding it will cost roughly $600,000 for the migration.
"Just looking at the benefits and the best use of taxpayer money, we decided to step up our game and deploy Windows 8.1."
Those benefits include ample opportunities for government employees to get acquainted with the new software through a variety of training options.
Users will be able to learn at their own pace, and even switch to a classroom-type environment if that's what they prefer.
"It's not just the changing of computers, there is the people side as well," Wells said.
Windows XP and the Internet Explorer browser have often been criticized for their security issues and susceptibility to malware.
In fact, Microsoft issued a patch for a major bug in Internet Explorer - that could allow a hacker to take over a user's computer - just two weeks ago.
Even Microsoft group manager of response communications, Dustin Childs, encouraged users to upgrade their operating system in a blog post.
"We have made the decision to issue a security update for Windows XP users," he said.
"Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, and we continue to encourage customers to migrate to a modern operating system, such as Windows 7 or 8.1."
Wells said the government has never had any major security breaches because of XP and adds the network is very secure.
Anti-spam and security checks are carried out on a regular basis but attacks do take place frequently.
"Do we get hit by attacks, absolutely, every single day," he said. "but our network and firewall stand up to it."
"We constantly monitor the network and even get alerts on our cellphones if anyone out there tries to hammer the network."
The last big scare for the IT department was the Heartbleed virus, which has been affecting millions of websites on the Internet for two years.
