Microsoft slams nails in Windows Vista, XP SP2, 2000
Switching off life support, left to breathe alone
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Microsoft will kill support for its unloved Windows Vista operating system a few months ahead of its Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000 planned end-of-the-road-for-updates deadline.
The company said yesterday that a Vista service pack-free OS will no longer get MS support after 13 April this year, leaving the flaky platform entirely at the mercy of hackers who might wish to exploit that code.
Meanwhile, XP SP2 and all versions of Windows 2000 support will trundle along until 13 July, when Redmond will turn out the security update lights on those operating systems.
At the same time Microsoft will move Windows Server 2003 from mainstream support to the extended support phase, which means customers will have to pay for help from MS, with only security updates remaining free.
“Microsoft believes it is important that all customers take action prior to the end of support date, not only so that they know their options and can prepare, but also to ensure their environments are as secure as possible,” said the company, before wheeling out a list of “incentives” to convince consumers and businesses to upgrade their operating systems.
The software maker has more about switching off OS life support for several of its platforms here. ®
COMMENTS
Thank you, Windows 2000, and good night...
I'll be sorry to Windows 2000 ride off into the sunset...hats off to one of (if not) the best releases of Windows ever.
I reckon that I'll keep running it for a while--it's not likely that AV software vendors are going to drop Win2k immediately and plenty of other software still works fine there as well. If it works, if a system is behind an external firewall, a third party browser is used and nothing's too broken--why fix it?
Misleading article
The article may be technically accurate, but it is misleading.
Windows 2000 is the only OS that will no longer be patched, security fixes or otherwise.
It is true that users of Vista and XP may need to apply a later service pack to maintain support, but the way the article is written some people could be forgiven for thinking that fixes are being completely dropped..
Using a car analogy
It is like saying "3 years ago, we issued a recall because of faulty engines, you chose not to bring your car in, and now we've expired the recall, as it costs too much to support! You had three years to get it looked at, and you refused for whatever reason. You want it fixed now, you have to pay"
Seriously, I am concerned that people expect continuously free support for software that is so outdated that it should be in a museum.
I guess you get the support you pay for!
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