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IRS Can’t Afford to Upgrade to Windows 7 But Can Afford to Pay Microsoft to Use XP

So, this happened on the Hill today:

According to Engadget, over half of IRS computers are still running Windows XP, and the plan is to upgrade to Windows 7 (which, as we all know, isn't even the most current Microsoft OS but even the IRS knows Windows 8 sucks) by the end of this year:

Usually, the Internal Revenue Service is the one getting paid this time of year, but Uncle Sam will be lining someone else's pockets this tax season because of its attachment to Windows XP. In case you hadn't heard, support for XP officially stopped on April 8th, meaning that Microsoft will no longer provide support or security updates for the venerable OS. However, governmental computers can't be left vulnerable, so the IRS will be paying Microsoft millions of dollars for custom support to keep their machines secure and functional. Right now, over half the agency's PCs still run XP, despite Microsoft telling the whole world that it would stop support for the OS in 2014 six years ago.

Computerworld estimated that the IRS would pay $11.6 million for one year of custom support, however the IRS disputes that and claims they will pay less than $500,000, which works out to about $9 for each of its 58,000 XP computers. The migration to Windows 7 is estimated to cost the IRS $30 million.

We feel like this would be an appropriate place to leave this 1960s Treasury-produced film that was intended to assure technologically-paranoid Americans that computers and the IRS go together like 4th of July and hot dogs. Perhaps they should take their own advice and not be so afraid of the future.