When will XP support _really_ end?

  • From: Bill Troop <billtroop@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 00:22:49 +0000

I just happened to see this in the Wikipedia entry on Win XP:

"Extended" support for XP will end on April 8, 2014, after which Microsoft will no longer provide any more security patches or support information for XP, unless customers have a paid, "Custom" support plan.

So: XP support will indeed continue, but only for certain customers. Given how huge XP usage still is, and how sensibly reluctant XP customers are to upgrade to Win 8.1, I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of U-turn in the following weeks. XP customers can't officially upgrade to Win 7, which would make sense, since it is not sold anymore, and 8.1 would be intolerable for most (though it is fine for me personally), so my guess is that until Win 9 at the very least, XP support may have to continue.

That said, I do not see the need to be panicky about 'updates' on a VM that is not connected to the Internet or that is and has high quality AV and firewall protection.

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