As most people know, Microsoft has set a product life cycle for most, if not all of it's products. I won't go into the evils that Microsoft forces it's customer through to keep the cash flowing, but it is necessary to remind everyone that these lifecycles affect everyone who uses Microsoft and Windows related products. There are three milestones that Windows users need to keep in mind that are coming fast.
On March 1st, The Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) will begin to shutdown every two hours in preparation for it's final shutdown on June 1st, 2010. You will start getting messages from the RC reminding you to upgrade the RC to the RTM (release to manufacturing) version, the officially released version for those not in the IT world. My information from Microsoft says that upgrading the RC to the release version should be fine. If you wait to upgrade after March 1st, that upgrade must be a clean install of the Windows 7 operating system, NOT AN UPGRADE from the RC to the RTM. However, I recently saw the reminder message when rebooting my Compaq laptop which was upgraded from the RC to the RTM last August. I have not looked into what caused this, but it wouldn't surprise me that everything will have to be uninstalled and reinstalled to kill the RC deadline message. More to come on this.If you are wondering, on June 1st, the PC will boot into a screen that will tell you that your copy of Windows is not genuine and that is all the farther you will get. In the meantime, if you haven't gone out and bought a copy of the released Windows 7 operating system, do so now and get the pain over with. I am using both the Windows 7 Business and Ultimate versions, and have been very pleased with both. I have found old software that wouldn't work with Vista runs fine under Win 7 and haven't had the need to run the Windows XP Mode add-on to handle old software that won't run under Win 7.
Beginning on April 13th of this year, support for the Vista RTM will end. Microsoft is asking that either SP1 or SP2 be installed to continue with support options from them. Frankly my experience with Vista was greatly enhanced with SP1 and more so with SP2. So if you are still using Vista, then you should have already installed SP1 at least, and consider installing SP2 if you haven't.
Beginning July 13 of this year, and this is something I have mentioned in CEBUG meetings, support for Windows SP SP2 and Windows 2000 ends. XP SP2 is a much needed upgrade that everyone should already have installed. However I am finding still today PCs with either no service packs, or SP1 installed. The upgrade to SP2 should be automatic. SP3 for Windows SP has been out for some time now and really everyone should have that version installed. I HIGHLY recommend that if you know how to slipstream service packs onto the RTM version of XP, you should created a slipstreamed XP SP3 CD now and use that for future reinstalls of XP. I have found that I got a 50-50 chance of getting a good upgrade of PCs from any service pack prior to SP3. However when I have done a new install using a slipstreamed XP SP3 CD, all my new installs were done correctly and without problems. If you don't know how to do this, ask me.
With regards to Windows 2000, this presented some confusion in my mind and probably does with others. Support for Windows 2000 workstation ended some time ago while support for Windows 2000 server still continues today. That support will end 13 July. Since the code between the workstation and server is pretty close, it's possible that Windows 2000 workstation was still being supported,but on an unofficial level. Frankly I have not interest to looking into this, so you'll have to go elseware to find this information. For the few of you still using any version of Windows 2000, it's time to retire the operating system and go to XP (which you will find very hard to find), or Windows 7 on the workstation side, and with Windows 2003 or higher on the server side.. There are a few hurdles that you will have to jump over moving a Windows 2000 domain to a newer domain structure, so be sure you have either done your homework, or are starting to talk to your VAR to schedule the upgrade.
Of course, there is no law that says you *have* to upgrade any of these operating systems. If you can live without mainstream support, are willing to pay for any continued development, or just do nothing at all, that's fine. However keep in mind that as Microsoft moves through the lifecycle process, so do the AV, backup, and any other vendors. If you can live with old software with no support, and can keep these machines from accessing the Internet, or more importantly isolated from Internet-accessible servers and workstations, they can still be used normally. If you are not sure, this is a question where you need to get a lot of information on the pros and cons of upgrading in addition to assessing the risk, and how much risk you wish to handle in your business, or home environment.
I can tell you from experience that whether it's one machine or 100 hundred machines, upgrading is no easy business, so prepare for some long nights or weekendsds and try to have some fun during the process.
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