Microsoft will be stopping their services for Windows XP and Office 2003 as of April 8 this year. As a consequence, Korea University (KU) will be upgrading the OS on the campus computers also. It has already been 10 years since the release of Windows XP, and due to the fast development of computer hardware technology, some problems with Windows XP have been discovered with supporting the newest hardware.

Since its competitiveness among the new technology was acknowledged as a strain since two years ago, Microsoft officially announced that they will no longer support Windows XP users with patches and security upgrades. What this means is that any computers using Windows XP after April 8 will become easy targets for hackers and viruses which pose serious threats when using simple services such as online banking for example.

KU’s IT System Management Department (ISMD) noticed the professors, employees, instructors, undergraduate and graduate students through the portal website that KU will longer support the Windows XP system as well as Office 2003. ISMD provides ways for upgrading campus computers through downloading the products through the portal website. This service is only open to employees and graduate students who are in charge of managing campus computers and cannot be used for upgrading private computers.

“As long as the departments in charge of upgrading the public computers on campus, there will not be anything different for student users, since the computers at the libraries are mostly used for internet services,” said a manager of ISMD.