Microsoft is getting ready to finally pull the plug Windows XP permanently. XP came out eleven years ago on October 25th, 2001. After years of success, on April 8th, 2014, support for the operating system will cease.
It has been a longer road than it was intended to be. Pushback from users that didn’t want to upgrade was so strong that in 2010 Microsoft extended the duration of downgrade rights (the ability to apply a current license to a previous version) from the standard 18 months to the full life-cycle of Windows 7. The dated operating system is so beloved (or perhaps, entrenched) that Windows 7 has only managed to overcome Windows XP in market share this past August.
If you have Windows XP deployed in your environment, this should be a warning to make upgrade plans now. The time from start to finish, planning through approval to deployment, can be months apart, especially for large environments.