Curran, Dunne clash over Windows XP debacle

Months after Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP, thousands of New Zealand government computers still run the ageing operating system.

There is no excuse for this costly and dangerous state of affairs.

At the National Business Review Chris Keall offers plenty of depth and background on the war of words between Labour technology spokesperson Clare Curran and Peter Dunne. The pair clash over the number of government Windows XP computers still in use.

Perhaps the most outrageous part of this is that Dunne has refused to release the information on how many computers are affected. The only conclusion one can draw from this is that the number is higher than officials would like you to think.

It’s extremely poor management to allow things to reach this state. Microsoft gave plenty of warning about closing off support for Windows XP and extended its original deadline. The cost of upgrading from Windows XP is not high and most XP-only applications can run on virtual machines on newer versions of Windows.