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Windows XP endgame: Firm moving 30,000 PCs to tablets

A Japanese insurance company will make a giant leap from Windows XP to Windows 8. A total of 30,000 personnel will be moved to Fujitsu tablets, Microsoft says.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Fujitsu Stylistic brand tablet.
Fujitsu Stylistic brand tablet. Newegg

The end of the world, er, the end of Windows XP support is nigh. To ease the transition, Microsoft Japan will help a major Japanese insurance company move 30,000 XP machines to Windows 8 tablets.

Meiji Yasuda, one of the largest Japanese insurance companies, is teaming up with Microsoft Japan and Fujitsu to upgrade 30,000 insurance sales personnel from Windows XP to Windows 8 tablets for use as mobile sales devices, Microsoft said Wednesday.

The clock is ticking: support for one of the world's most popular operating systems -- that would be Windows XP -- will end on April 8, 2014.

"Previously, the sales team prepared proposals on their Windows XP-based PCs and then printed them out in order to share with customers," Microsoft said.

Windows 8 will put end to those old ways. The tablets -- custom made by Fujitsu for the insurer -- will allow sales personnel to produce policies customized for specific customers on the fly.

Meiji Yasuda will be the first Japanese life insurance company to adopt Windows 8 Pro, according to Microsoft.

[Via Neowin]