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Windows XP might have been retired back in April, but the venerable operating system is still used in many organisations ahead of a move to a newer version of Windows.

A survey of IT decision makers found that as of the end of June, 60 percent of companies questioned have completed an upgrade away from XP (34 percent moving to Windows 7, 26 percent opting for Windows 8) while 33 percent were still in the process (19 percent heading to Windows 7, 14 percent to Windows 8). Six percent of companies had upgrades planned but were yet to start them. The survey, carried out by IT operations management company 1E, involved 300 IT decision makers in the US and UK working in companies with more than 500 staff.

According to the survey, the average length of time to migrate all PCs to a new operating system across the UK and US came in at five months. The US is apparently quicker at getting the job done, taking only four months compared to six taken in the UK.

Unsurprisingly, larger companies take longer to get the work done: to migrate away from Windows XP takes three months for a organisations with 500 to 1,000 employees, four for firms with 1,00 to 3,000 staff, and seven for companies with more than 3,00 staff.

The research found public sector organisations on average take the longest time — seven months — to move away from Windows XP, compared to five months or less in the private sector. And, according to the survey, fewer public sector organisations have completed a Windows migration than in any other sector: 56 percent compared to 61 percent in financial services and 65 percent in other commercial sectors

Of public sector respondents as of the end of June nearly two thirds (60 percent) had migrat