Windows XP Home: obsolete sooner than you expect

Microsoft set out to adopt a formal and rigid support lifecycle in 2002, back at a time when most analysts were expecting to see Windows Vista (then, “Longhorn”) within a couple of years. My own point of view was that this lifecycle business had a lot to do with Microsoft’s then-new volume licensing scheme, which among other things is oriented towards selling software subscriptions. If you’re buying a subscription for software, you can see how lifecycle plans become important. However, delays in Windows Vista coupled with a questionable approach to “consumer” products means that 2007 will carry a few surprises unless policy changes are made at Redmond.

XP Professional and Home are divided into two general product categories for Microsoft, namely business and consumer products. XP Professional, as a business product, will receive mainstream support for two additional years after the release of Windows Vista (whenever that may be). After that, Professional will have an additional five years of extended service (minimum), though this could be lengthened considerably if the OS update after Windows Vista does not ship within three years of Vista’s debut.

Mainstream and Extended support are virtually identical, with both carrying security updates, service packs, online support, and the availability of paid support. However, the transition to the Extended Support phase means that hotfixes that are not security related will be made available by a (paid) commercial contract, warranty claims can no longer be made, and Microsoft will not entertain adding any new features or design elements to the OS.

Based on the current timeline and our own expectations for the launch of Windows Vista, we estimate Windows XP Professional Mainstream Support ending in late December 2008, with Extended Support ending in December of 2013. It could stretch out longer, but we don’t expect the window to be more than two to three additional years. After the Extended Support phase is finished, online support (knowledge base, FAQ, etc.) will continue for 10 years.

Windows XP Home coming up short
Windows XP Home is another story. As a consumer product, it suffers from two policy deficiencies. First, consumer products do not qualify for Extended Support, but instead move directly into the online support phase after Mainstream Support ends. Second, whereas business products are guaranteed Mainstream Support for two years beyond the release of the next subsequent version of a product (in this case, Windows Vista), consumer products do not get this built-in transitional period. The end result is that Windows XP Home will leave Mainstream Support and enter online support on January 1, 2007—in less than a year.

When that day comes, XP Home users may feel left out in the cold, because they will no longer qualify for security updates, and will not be able to purchase support from Microsoft. Finding this situation somewhat alarming, I contacted Microsoft’s representation to clarify the matter. A Microsoft spokesman relayed the following to me:

“For consumer products, security updates will be available through the end of the mainstream phase. For Windows XP Home Edition, there will be no security updates after 12/31/06.” Regarding paid support for problems unrelated to security patches, I was told that “Users who want to continue to receive support after the Microsoft assisted and paid support offerings have ended may visit the Retired Product Support Options Web site.”

I urge Microsoft to reconsider this stance. There should be considerably more overlap in support for their consumer OS. While five years of support for XP Home may have seemed reasonable when it was expected that there would be little more than three years between major OS updates, the time it has taken to bake Windows Vista has thrown this out entirely. If Vista launches in October, it would give users a mere two months to move to the OS, or risk being unsupported.

I suspect that Microsoft will grant a stay of execution for Windows XP Home, because the alternative is to create a PR nightmare that would also leave customers fuming. Citing emerging markets in the past, Microsoft extended support for Windows 98 and ME by more than two years, and this decision was made long after Windows XP was released. Microsoft should extend support for Windows XP Home well into 2008. Otherwise users will have to hope that updates to XP Professional meet their needs, but it remains unclear if Windows Update will point XP Home users to updates to XP Professional.

Win98 had an extension of its supported life and I believe that this is also likely to happen with XP Home also, this has been suggested in some newsletters that I get.

As you mention the arrival of Vista towards the end of this year at the time that XP Home mainstream support, so I believe that they will be forced to extend this deadline, especially if Vista is late going to Gold.

Even when win98 was well past its extended period of support some security updates were released for it. I think this was due to adverse media comments.

“For consumer products, security updates will be available through the end of the mainstream phase. For Windows XP Home Edition, there will be no security updates after 12/31/06”

Well that is quite worrying.

Im a Home User :cry:

OH MY GOSH
no more security updates for home xp after 12/30/06?!
i’m also a home user…that DOES SEEM to be quite worrying :cry:
thanks for this thread, i found it very informative

im gonna call them and complain that they cant leave us out there to be vulnerable to hacks,though it not gonna work

tim :wink:

wait what will happen to those who periodically recover their computer to factory settings?
and they need to get all the updates again…
are they in a corner? ???

tim

Well there is allways Autopatcher I generally keep a file on my system and update it every 2 or 3 months, that along with a slipstreamed sp2 means I am updated before I even put my modem on.

I believe they continue to host the updates, just they won’t create any new updates.

I think Microsoft releases patches for any operating system if a flaw is determined to be critical. I think they mean by “updates” is just like a random program change update or something similar.

i hope so ;D

Yinyang, do you play starcraft?

It’s good then that i am on windows xp professional.But this whole thing about xp home users not receiving updates after the end of this year really SUCKS and i hope MS changes this…

If MS isn’t going to support XP Home they should pull it from the Stores and quit selling it !!!

Good point! But as far as i know them that won’t happen until Vista is out…

Hello folks,

While the first viruses have already been written against what has come out of Vista-beta, we should turn the tables here a bit. It was with consent that Microsoft build his Internet Explorer as an integral part of the Windows OS, on the other hand Microsoft is not offering alternate browsers the means (API code) to do the same with their browsers, being able to function deep inside the Microsoft OS. If the latter thing was to happen we could really see what was a better alternative.

polonus

They will treat XP as they do with 98 - they release no updates, but if a critical flaw is found they will create a patch. It’s the same thing, Microsoft has been doing it for years.

Please go HERE to read what Microsoft nows says about XP support.
Also SP3 for XP Home and Pro? Please go HERE to read about this.

Hi Neal63,

Why is Microsoft growing those long teeth, especially where IE version is concerned?

polonus

Microsoft ended up having to extend support for 98 through summer 2006 a while back. Do you think they are really going to dump XP in Dec 2006? Doesn’t matter. It will just give me enough to reason to install Linux on that last machine still running XP. Go ahead Microsoft, I dare you.

Hello,

A lot of people bought new PC’s at the end of 2005 and beggining of 2006 those that just bought them most likely came with XP Home. If Microsoft does this they will have many unhappy costumers.

Actually, it seems the problem of Microsoft this time is not about their support policy but their communications. Also, an article from ZDnet UK

However, in larger scope, some people see Microsoft “computer tax” is an abuse of intellectual property/patent law.

LOL i think this is funny (sorry but i do) if a company like Apple Corp. did this nobody would complain sure people mght be a little upset. Because Microsoft is such a large Corporation (monopoly) everyone gets upset when they change the OS. XP has been out for 5 years i think that is long enough. I am sure I won’t upgrade to Vista because not sure my new computer will take it 512 MB Ram, and I’m not replacing it soon because I just got it at the end of last year. Also see here. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3221