Microsoft dropped Windows XP out of mainstream support in April. The ageing as moved into extended support. Microsoft's mainstream support, which is usually offered for only five years, actually ran for seven-and-a-half years because of
Windows Vista's long delay. Two years ago, Microsoft also extended mainstream support for XP Home and XP Media Center until 2009, and the deadline for the follow-up phase, dubbed 'extended support', until to match the dates that had been set earlier for the business-grade XP Professional.

According to Microsoft, the transition from mainstream to extended support for Windows XP means that it will only provide paid support - on a per-incident basis, or
through its various pre-paid support programmes - and will only offer non-security hotfixes for a fee, and then only to customers who have purchased the Extended Hotfix Support plan. Microsoft will continue to generate free security updates for Windows XP, and release them via Windows Update.



Windows XP's shift into the first phase of support retirement comes at a time when the operating system remains extraordinarily popular, especially among business users. According to a recent survey by Dimensional Research, 97 percent ofthe more than 1,100 IT professionals surveyed said that their companies and organisations are still running XP.