As Microsoft draws the curtains on support for its XP operating system from tomorrow, more businesses are considering a shift to open-source technologies.

Last month, the Tamil Nadu government advised all its departments to install Bharat Operating System Solutions or BOSS Linux, in addition to having Linux installed on 100,000 laptops.

One of the leading public sector banks in India, which operates around 9,000 bank branches, has decided that using Windows XP still makes sense, with support from an open-source provider. “When we considered the costs involved in moving to Windows 7 or later, we decided to look for alternative software that can still do the job,” said the IT head of the bank, who did not want his name disclosed as the matter is sensitive.

This public sector bank decided to go in for Suse, an operating system based on Linux, which, interestingly has decided to offer support for end-of-life Microsoft products such as Windows XP.

“Windows XP will be in the front but Suse will support it for all critical business functions,” said Venkatesh Swaminathan, Country Manager, India/South Asia of Suse, which is a part of the Attachmate Group.

“We are in the process of finalising deals with hospitals, financial companies and even e-commerce retailers, he added.

Another technology giant is throwing its weight behind Linux. According to Viswanath Ramaswamy, Country Manager – Power Systems, IBM India/ South Asia IBM, more clients want to use Linux due to better performance, security and cost.

Cost factor Microsoft, on the other hand, is exhorting users to upgrade. In a Microsoft sponsored study, research group IDC stated that costs go up 29 per cent in the fifth year of continuing to support Windows XP past its deadline. Then there are security concerns such as the Stuxnet virus. “The only way this can be countered is to upgrade the operating system as the user can get continued support from the ecosystem,” said Sridhar Iyengar, VP, Product Management, ManageEngine of tech firm Zoho.

Linux professionals counter this and say that when assessed over a five-year period, costs using Linux come down by 60 per cent as there are many aspects to look into.

Analysts opine that it is not easy to move directly from XP to recent Windows versions, as it involves installation from scratch and has hardware support issues. This involves downtime, which can be several days and is not feasible, says Swaminathan of Suse.

This is one of the reasons companies are looking at alternatives. Microsoft, however, insists that since the last three months or so, 80 per cent of PCs in large Indian enterprises have discarded XP.

However, 16 per cent of large enterprise computers are still actively using XP, and this poses a significant security risk to their organisations, Karan Bajwa Managing Director, Microsoft India had stated.

(With inputs from KV Kurmanath in Hyderabad)

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