Windows XP End-Of-Life Tomorrow, Custom Support Rides Forth

Supposing you're one of the last users of Windows XP out there in the universe, you'll want to make sure you understand the implications of continuing to use that operating system after tomorrow. Tomorrow, after all, is the last day Microsoft will be offering technical support for Windows XP for the public. After that, it's all about Custom Support for Windows XP.

A statement deployed by Microsoft this week suggests that they've discovered that not every business – the most common place for Windows XP to still exist – has completed their transition away from the operating system. As such, they've made a system called Custom Support for Windows XP. This system will help with the migration away from Windows XP as a first issue – it's not clear how long Custom Support for Windows XP will remain a service offered by Microsoft.

Meanwhile Microsoft has been making public their intent to get rid of standard Windows XP support since the year 2007. September of that year, it was, that Microsoft first suggested they'd be ending support for the operating system in the future, and here, almost 7 years later, a baffling number of PCs still work with the OS.

UPDATE: Support may end tomorrow, but it could end as soon as midnight tonight. Either way, if you're still using Windows XP at this point in time, you really should be switching as quickly as possible.

If you are a consumer, there's no such thing as Custom Support for Windows XP. This is a service made for large entities only. While Microsoft suggests that custom support may extend "beyond 10 years from the date a product becomes generally available," this service is only available to "Strategic Microsoft partners" and enters into the Extended Support phase.

And none of this is going to be cheap, that much should be clear even without hard numbers.

VIA: Microsoft