I linked to the Win XP story above.,
The truth of it is not that simple,
The following I fgot from reading discussion on
slashdot .
First - Microsoft will continue to give support for Win XP if the user is paying for it.
It is a special case support for special users - Banks, Governments, Militaries, etc.
Second - The Win XP they use is not the one you or me had at home.
The ship is built by BAE. BAE has a special agreement with Microsoft and direct access to the source code of win XP.
BAE uses a hardened version of Win XP for military customers.
So yes, the Queen Elisabeth will run some systems using an old operating system.
But the systems, computers and the Win XP are up to military specifications.