MS Windows Support Ending Dates

[seacue]

Can someone verify that support for various Windows versions will end on the following dates?

2012 Apr 10 - Vista SP2 all home/ultimate versions
2014 Apr 8 - XP SP3 all versions
2015 Jan 13 - Win 7 SP1 all starter/home/ultimate versions
2017 Apr 11 - Vista SP2 business/enterprise versions
2020 Jan 14 - Win 7 SP1 professional/enterprise versions

Are new Service Packs expected for Win 7, now that Win 8 is just around the corner?

Thanks for any insight.

seacue

[txdmy1]

see here
Windows lifecycle fact sheet - Microsoft Windows (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle)

[Spurlash2]

Nearly.

Your first line is incorrect. Vista RTM is no longer supported. That is Vista with no SP's installed. Support for Vista SP1 ended in Jul 2011.

A good link HERE (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/lifecycle) to see all sorts of dates. For instance; MS only stopped selling Vista equipped computers in October of 2011, and XP in October of 2010. (OEM sales)

PS Beaten to it by Txdmy1

[seacue]

Thank you for your comments, but they seem to disagree with my understanding of the information Microsoft put forth in Select a Product for Lifecycle Information (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect)

I believe that my table agrees with that Microsoft info.

Note that I referred to Vista SP2 and Win7 SP1, not the original release nor earlier SPs.

Extended support is only provided for the non-home versions of Vista and Win 7. Extended support applies to all versions of XP SP3. I continue to get updates for my non-Pro XP3.

[txdmy1]

expect further service packs for W7, notice they are still avaiable for previous versions of the operating systems.
You could ask the question on the blog on here, it's worked for me in the past
Microsoft TechNet: Resources for IT Professionals (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/ms376608)

[ZH875]

Does it really matter if they are no longer supported?

They will continue to work will current hardware well past their end date, W98 support ended around Jul 2006, but it is still in daily use on our vans.

[seacue]

I started looking into support expiration dates since I see a "consultant" very strongly recommending that people move from XP to Win7. Some of these people have limited means and the cost of buying Win 7 and the hardware to run it would be significant to them.

It appears that Win 7 SP2 will be released in mid-2012, which implies that support will continue through mid-2017.

I wanted to have my ducks in line before suggesting that such a move might not be cost-effective for some people. If they "need" to move forward, perhaps waiting for Win 8 would be a better use of their funds. But buying any Windows before SP1 seems like something of a gamble.

seacue

[le Pingouin]

ZH875, it matters. No more support equals no more patches for security vulnerabilities.

I hope your vans aren't connected to a network of any sort because they won't have anti-virus software worth a cracker running on them.

[ZH875]

They are only connected to an 'On Vehicle' network with no outside access.

How many new security vulnerabilities are introduced when they fix earlier ones?

I don't think I will be losing any sleep over W98 just yet.

[le Pingouin]

Hardly the situation for typical user who will want to take their system on-line. Doing so with an expired OS is not smart.

[mixture]

They are only connected to an 'On Vehicle' network with no outside access.

hahahhahahahaahhaah .... :E

Thank you for my first great laugh of 2012 !

See Duqu and Stuxnet amongst other examples.

All it takes is a malicious system administrator (or a a non-malicious system administrator with a dodgy USB stick) and you've had it.

Is your "on vehicle network" truly seperate from the outside world ? How do you administer it ? I bet there's some form of live connectivity unless you've got strict security procedures in place with a true air-gap.

Not only will you not get security fixes with an expired OS, but you'll get no bug fixes either, and no chance of finding new third party software that will continue to run on an old OS !