Munich counters end of Windows XP support by offering Ubuntu

Life

18 September 2013

With support for Windows XP finally running out on 8 February 2014, one German city has decided to provide its citizens with a novel alternative to upgrading to Windows 7 or 8: switch to Linux.

Security experts and Microsoft itself have warned that the impending end-of-life date for Windows XP could spark a hacker holiday, as the still-popular operating system will stop receiving security patches to plug vulnerability holes. Microsoft went so far as to warn that people who continue to run Windows XP beyond April will forever suffer from zero day exploits that could harm both your PC and spread to infect your friends.

Microsoft’s solution, naturally, entails upgrading to a new version of Windows or picking up a newer PC. Munich’s solution is much less costly: The city plans to distribute 2,000 Ubuntu Linux installation discs via the Gasteig library, giving its citizens a no-cost solution to the Windows XP conundrum.

Ubuntu, like virtually all Linux distributions, has a small footprint and should work fine on the types of older systems frequently found running Windows XP. The minimum system requirements for Ubuntu is 64Mb RAM (though 512Mb is recommended) and 5Gb of storage space.

Munich won’t provide official support for the discs it hands out, though the version being distributed is Ubuntu 12.04, a long-term support release, rather than the newer, yet shorter-lived Ubuntu 13.04. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is guaranteed to receive updates and security patches until April 2017.

Ubuntu Linux is one of the more popular Linux distributions around on account of its smooth installation and fairly flat learning curve. The OS comes preloaded with a bevy of helpful open source software (like Firefox, the Thunderbird e-mail client, and the LibreOffice productivity suite) to ease the transition even more.

Even gamers shouldn’t feel left out. According to Gabe Newell, co-founder of the Valve (the company behind the Steam gaming service) Linux is the future of gaming.

IDG News Service

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