 "Microsoft to quit support for Windows XP in 2014")
They had said it before, and now they remind again. Loyalists to one of Microsoft’s many long-running OS’ and Office, Windows XP and Office 2003, now have time until April 8, 2014 to make the shift to the latest versions of the OS and Office (Windows 7 and Office 2010), before the older ones go obsolete. In an official blog post, Microsoft have revealed that after the above mentioned date they would end their support for both Windows XP and Office 2003, essentially revealing that they would stop doling out updates to them. There will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates.. The post states that users with PCs running Windows XP and Office 2003, should see this 2-year countdown as an ideal time to make the shift to the latest versions of the OS and Office software. It adds that although both Windows XP and Office 2003 made for great technology jumps for their time, changing times prompted the Redmond-based company to dole out successive versions; attempting to get better each time with both their OS, as well as Office.
Support to end post that date
The post further adds, “Technology continues to evolve and so do people’s needs and expectations. Modern users demand technologies that fit their personal workstyle and allow them to stay productive anywhere anytime, while businesses have an ever increasing need to protect data and ensure security, compliance and manageability. It is in a company’s – and its employees’ – best interest to take advantage of the modern Windows and Office software that is designed with these needs in mind.” Debuting in 2011, Windows XP is currently on Extended support, since the end of its Mainstream Support on April 14, 2009. An extended support on Windows XP will allow users to receive security updates. However, in the absence of a commercial support contract, users will be asked for necessary bug fixes and other patches.
Reports also confirm that yesterday saw the end of the Mainstream support for yet another of Microsoft’s OS’, albeit not as successful, Windows Vista. It has now entered into its secondary Extended support, which ends in 2017, post which, Vista too will be a thing of the past. Reports further inform that organizations still using the older versions of the OS, should start their migration to a modern PC. It adds that going by the customer deployment data in the past, the average enterprise deployment can take 18 to 32 months from business case through full deployment. Hence, if organizations need to see to it that they remain on supported versions of Windows and Office, then the time to begin planning and application testing is now, before the end of support. The company also advises the shift to the newer OS, as an attempt to keep one’s organizations away from security risks, that comes along with using an OS, beyond its end support date. These include, security and compliance risks, lack of independent software vendor (ISV) and hardware manufacturers support, among other things.
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