Time is running out for admins and developer with the end of support for XP SP2 and 2000 coming on July 13th.
Many Enterprise users are still running XP desktops, often because they are tied to proprietary software. They now have two months to upgrade to XP SP3 if they want to continue receiving support and patches from Microsoft.
The extended support for XP SP3 runs until April the 8th, 2014, Then XP will finally be RIP. Windows XP was released in 2001, so when it?s officially cut loose it will be nearly 13 years old.
Support and patches for Windows 2000 Server and desktop will also stop on the 13th of July. Microsoft has advised users to upgrade to Windows 7 and server 2003/2008.
SP2 for XP was released in 2004, it included a default built in firewall which helped to stop the spread of worms such as Nimda and Blaster. Which both reeked all sorts of havoc in the early part of this decade.
Qualys, a vulnerability scanning firm, estimates that 50% of XP machines are still running SP2. So the task for Enterprise admins is not a small one.
