Microsoft has published details related to the end of support for Windows 98, Me and XP Service Pack 1 since January 6, 2006. Consequently, on October 10, 2006, the operating system has officially been pronounced dead. As of today "Microsoft will end all public assisted support for Windows XP Service Pack1 (SP1). After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support options or security updates for this retired service pack under the policies defined by the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy."

The solution? Upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 2. For systems that pack a powerful software configuration even Windows Vista is an option as it is close to ship to RTM. With this move, Microsoft disallows support for XP SP1 after a total of four years since the product was released in September 2002. The Redmond Company has even kept the support alive for over two years although it should have ended it 12 month after the release of Service Pack 2 on August 2004.

As of yet, Microsoft has failed to announce an official date for support termination for Windows XP Service Pack 2. It is expected that this will be in close relation with the adoption level of Windows Vista.