The problems and frustrations with Vista are easy to find with a quick search. They are documented well - and the search will turn up more material daily. Some people are going back to XP. And the question becomes ‘how long will XP be supported?’.

The answer seems to be that extended support for Windows XP will end sometime in early April 2014. There are, however, certain provisos. It seems that you need to be on the latest service pack. Microsoft spells out the details here:

link: Microsoft Support Lifecycle

If you want to go back to XP - or stay with XP - then there will be continued support until 2014. Now, here is an interpretation from what I can gather from trying to decipher what Microsoft is saying. It may be (and someone please correct me if I am wrong) that this 2014 time is not absolutely definitive. The 2014 date itself can be extended. That would happen if Microsoft should offer some sort of late XP service pack, in or later than 2013. I think that is correct. Please let me know if you read the Microsoft literature and interpret it differently. My head hurts now…

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster:  http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]microsoft, vista, xp, extended support, 2014[/tag]