14 DAY TRIAL // Windows XP remains the second most-used operating system worldwide, but more and more users are at least planning to upgrade to a different platform sometime in the near future.
The same applies to Vinton, a city in Benton County, Iowa, United States, were local authorities are using Windows XP to control the doors of a jail. Although they admit that the existing equipment is more or less outdated, they do claim that they will upgrade sometime in the future, but no budget for such a task is currently available.
Benton County Sheriff Randy Forsyth tells Vinton Newspapers that all computers were purchased in 2010 when the jail was also built, but since then, no upgrade has been made.
“We ran into an issue the first part of April,” says Forsyth. “The computers that we have that control the jail doors in the building are all on Windows XP. Those were obviously purchased when the jail was built in 2010.”
Of course, it's not too difficult to imagine what could happen if someone manages to break into these computers, so let's just hope that US authorities find the necessary money to upgrade the Windows XP workstations and thus make sure that everything remains under control.