Microsoft to Stop the Support for Windows XP
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.
The post further adds, "Technology continues to evolve
and so do people’s needs and expectations.
Modern users demand technologies
that fit their personal work style 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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By Amrut Deshmukh
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