Flu/Gripe VirusOne of my all-time favorite operating systems is Windows 2000 and I would continue to use it today if I was not so worried about security.  Many people still use Windows 98, 2k and XP because they swear by it’s performance or other little nuances that they love.  Other people just do not upgrade their systems simply because it suits their needs and don’t feel the need to upgrade.

At what point does using a legacy operating system become “dangerous”?  There are many people that still use them and as Microsoft is finding out with the recent Conficker numbers, the usage is much higher than previously thought.  While the Conficker/Downadup is able to infect legacy operating systems I have found in my personal research that the bulk of malware does not support legacy OSes either.

Intentionally infecting legacy operating systems might sound easy but it can be surprisingly difficult to do.  Viruses tend to thrive but spyware in general is geared towards XP and newer.  So while many people advocate moving to a more modern (and supported) operating system it is not always as necessary as everyone says.

The real problem is that many people avoid installing service packs for whatever crazy reason.  The OS that most recently will be the victim of the dreaded “Unsupported” status by Microsoft is Server 2003 SP1.  There is a multitude of system admins that have yet to upgrade to Service Pack 2 and soon will not be able to get additional security updates.

Most people that “choose” to use a legacy OS are only affecting themselves when there is a problem but when it comes to server operating systems it can be much more disastrous.  How many of these servers contain our personal information?  This can be a store or business where the servers contain our information and are easily breached.

It gives a whole new meaning to the saying “Why fix something if it isn’t broken?”.

Check It Out> ZDNet, Microsoft’s Product Lifecycle