Once again Labour’s Clare Curran makes a mountain out of a molehill

Labour IT spokesperson Clare Curran has once again fired off yet another volley of unsubstantiated claims that the government is “propping up outdated and unsupported computer systems across the public service” around the transition from Windows XP operating systems, Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne said today.

“Contrary to Ms Curran’s skittish outburst, most government agencies have moved off the Windows XP operating system. The Government Chief Information Officer has been advising agencies since 2012 that after 8 April, Microsoft would cease supporting the Windows XP operating system.

Most agencies migrated their systems by 8 April, and of those that had not, most had plans to move from Windows XP by the end of July.

“There has been no loss of service in agencies that have taken this approach”, says Mr Dunne.

Moving off the XP system is the responsibility of each individual agency. If agencies were not able to migrate by the date, they were expected to implement robust risk management
to ensure that their systems were protected. This included extended support arrangements
from Microsoft.

The Government Chief Information Officer supported agency’s moves by helping them work together to swap learnings, setting out best practice guidelines, defining standards and specifications, and providing frequent reminders to agencies that the deadline was approaching.

“Migrating more than 160 government agencies is complex and does not lend itself to a single solution. In many cases old applications were written for XP systems and require redevelopment, which takes time and resources, particularly in complex environments.

“Each agency’s situation and the reason why it has or has not migrated are unique and require an individual plan of action. I am confident that agencies are managing this challenge appropriately, and the number of devices still on XP is reducing every week”, says Mr Dunne.

Mr Dunne pointed out that one worldwide estimate has indicated about 25 per cent of all desktop devices globally are still running Windows XP.

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