Microsoft quits support for Office XP and Vista SP1

According to Microsoft, the company plans to cancel further support of Office XP presented in 2001 and SP1 for Windows Vista. The latest updates for these products will be released on 12th on July 2011.

Microsoft policy includes 10 year support program for all of its business-products. Basic support is available for everybody free of charge for 5 years only. The other 5 years, extended support, is provided to companies that obtained a special paid agreement.

Vista users will continue to get latest security updates as usual. All they have to is install Service Pack 2 that is available since May 2009. Common versions of Vista OS (Home Basic, Home Premium и Ultimate) will be supported till April 2012. Corporate versions, Business and Vista Enterprise, will get updates till April 2017.

Microsoft Office 2003 will get its last security update in April 2014, while Office 2007 and Office 2010 support should end in April 2017 and October 2020 respectively.