XP SP2 Is XPired

While Microsoft starts pushing some Windows releases forward, it is pulling the plug on others. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) has expired today July 13th, 2010, having reached what Microsoft calls end-of support. As the Redmond company announced, XP SP2 is not the only Windows release for which support will no longer be provided, as the software giant is also cutting the life line for all versions of Windows 2000.

Windows XP continues to dominate the operating system market, with Windows 7 growing at a strong pace, but still extremely far in the distance. Microsoft hasn’t shared any statistics revealing just how many users are continuing to run XP SP2, but there are bound to be quite a few that still have to upgrade to Service Pack 3.

In fact, that’s Microsoft’s first advice for XP SP2 customers, upgrade, if not to Windows 7, than at least to XP Service Pack 3. SP3 is after all the reason why SP2 is now at the end of support. The software giant traditionally offers support up to 24 months for Windows service pack releases, after a new upgrade is released.

XP SP2 was launched almost six years ago, in August 2004. A couple of years ago, in 2008, the company wrapped up and released Service Pack 3 for 32-bit (x86) XP. Users have had to wait no less than four years between SP2 and SP3, and they won’t be getting any other service packs for the operating system which is scheduled for expiration in 2014.

With SP3 being a free upgrade, the solution for XP SP2 users is rather simple. They simply have to make the jump. Otherwise they risk being left out “stranded” with no security updates and no non-security hotfixes whatsoever.

Last week I put together a FAQ focused on the imminent expiration of Windows XP SP2. I encourage you to look it over, and leave any additional questions you might have in the comments.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Final is available for download here.

Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.

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