No more free support for Windows XP

Starting next week Microsoft will cease providing free support for a number of its products viewed as “old”, reports the Register. Among these there are consumer versions of Windows XP and Office 2003.

Termination of support for Office 2003 along with Windows XP Home and Professional is scheduled for April 14. Starting that day the software will no longer include no-charge incident support, warranty claims, design changes, and bug fixes not related to security. Thereby, consumers will have to pay for Microsoft assistance on a per-incident, per hour, or alternative basis.

Meantime, security updates will be further provided on a free basis until August 4, 2014 after which the software will be cancelled by the company and the users will be left on their own.

Besides, on April 14 the company is also retiring Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 which means that Microsoft will no longer provide support for the release.