Microsoft's senior marketing manager for Windows Commercial, Stephen L. Rose, wrote in a blog post that Microsoft will be ending support for its Windows XP operating system by April 8, 2014.
Microsoft explained in the Windows Springboard Series blog that it will end its support for Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Office 2003 completely in April next year.
Microsoft ended mainstream support for its Windows XP users in April 2009 as part of its Support Lifecycle policy where all Microsoft products get a minimum support of 10 years including mainstream support and extended support of five years each. Stephen Rose wrote to all Windows XP and Office 2003 users to upgrade to the latest versions of supported Windows operating systems and Office before Microsoft stops providing any security updates or free or paid tech support.
"After April 8, 2014, there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates," Rose, wrote on the Springboard blog. "Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your environment after their end of support date may expose your company to potential risks."
Rose also answered a list of questions in his blog to help users migrate from the 12-year-old operating system to the latest versions of Windows. Users were advised to do a "clean install" as they cannot upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8 directly. Rose added some useful links to the tools that may help users to migrate successfully.
According to a report from IDC, as posted in the blog, the decision to upgrade to Windows 7 from XP will also prove helpful in financial terms. Windows 7 is a more advanced operating system in terms of security, compatibility and boot time, which will reduce the annual maintenance cost by $700/ year in comparison to the Windows XP.
All businesses running the Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 can upgrade to Windows 8 pro and Office 2013 as a package as Microsoft is offering a 15 percent promotional discount through its Open License program, according to the Computer World news.
