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If you want a translation to what all of this means, let’s give the word to some experts who firstly covered the news upon the release:
So come 13 May Microsoft will issue security patches that detail flaws they are fixing and those flaws will be left unpatched for all Windows 8.1 users until they apply Update 1. A nightmare scenario. Users who stay with Windows 8.1 will face the same scenario Windows XP users are in after Microsoft cut off security updates this month, but that came a generous 13 years after XP’s initial release. Come 13 May Windows 8.1. will be just 8 months old. Major updates to previous editions of Windows (then dubbed ‘Service Packs’) also had ‘cut off’ dates for users to apply updates, but they were never so short.
If you are wondering what is the big deal about this, as it is easy to just click on some buttons, have the Update 1 running on your computer and just sit back and relax waiting for the next security updates, the big deal regarding the fact that Windows 8.1. will no longer receive security updates unless users install Update 1 is the fact that most industrial customers and business customers will have the same problems with security, just as the ones running XP had not so long ago. Just as we mentioned earlier this month, the most affected sector by Microsoft’s decisions is represented by firms, service companies and business who work in the infrastructure.
But this is not the only reason Microsoft’s decision was considered bad at that time and is still debatable even today: say industrial users and businesses manage somehow to get all the validations necessary and install the Update 1 in time, although this is not likely to happen. What about the Heartbleed bug, the security flaw that is still considered a world – wide threat and which needs to be carefully managed?
Not giving Windows 8.1 users enough time to build their defense against the Heartbleed bug and not providing security updates, Microsoft looks like pouring gasoline over an already burning fire fueled by mass paranoia and concern for the safety of personal data. Will the fact that Windows 8.1. will no longer receive security updates drive even further and away the last few Windows O.S. fans? It probably will, but since May 13 is almost here, do your best and secure your computer and your data, as we may never know what’s coming next.
