Windows XP extended support ends in 700 days (a little more than 1,000,000 minutes). So most probably after Apr 8, 2014 Windows XP will be unsupported by our software products. May be some days before, or after, but this is inevitable – you (who are still on XP) will be forced to upgrade if you want to continue using latest releases of our software products.
What this “unsupported” mean for you as the end user? There are main two things that will happen after that date:
- We will not test our software against Windows XP. There are no guarantees that newer version will continue to work with Windows XP, however, Windows Server 2003 R2 support ends Jul 14, 2015, and because Windows Server 2003 is based on the same kernel and the same shell as Windows XP, it is very possible that you will be able to go with XP another year or little more.
- Second thing is, that we will eventually switch to newer Visual Studio version, which means, that you will not be able to (physically) run our software on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Each version of Visual Studio can target certain Windows versions, and I am sure, that Visual Studio that will be released after Jul 14, 2015, will not support these older Windows version.
Also, note that, it is not guaranteed that we will support these both OSes till the Microsoft Extended support ends. We will do a reasonable effort to support our users, but not the operating system that nobody is using.
Again, Windows XP Extended Support End Date – Apr 8, 2014. Source: Microsoft Support Lifecycle.
Windows Server 2003 Extended Support End Date – Jul 14, 2015. Source: Microsoft Support Lifecycle.
P.S. My personal recommendation is to upgrade to Windows 7 ASAP, or at least wait till Windows 8 comes out and upgrade then!
P.S.S. There is a simple Desktop widget from Microsoft for Windows that shows how many days left till Windows XP support ends. See the screenshot above. Here is a download link: Windows XP End Of Support Countdown Gadget.