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Microsoft has announced that as of April 14th, it will no longer offer mainstream support for Office 2003.  This means users of the application will no longer receive free non-security hotfixes or other support.  However, Office 2003 users will still continue to receive security patches and regular refreshes of Outlook’s junk mail Microsoft has announced that as of April 14th, it will no longer offer mainstream support for Office 2003.  This means users of the application will no longer receive free non-security hotfixes or other support.  However, Office 2003 users will still continue to receive security patches and regular refreshes of Outlook’s junk mail definitions.

“Customers will have access to extended support for paid support, security support updates at no additional cost and paid hotfix support,” a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail

April 14th is also the day Windows XP will begin its foray into retirement.  The 7 year old OS is the most popular version of Windows to date and has enjoyed a rebirth thanks to the huge sales of netbooks, most of which come with it preinstalled.  It was the netbook craze that kept XP going this long.  Microsoft actually extended its 5 year mainstream support to 7 years just for netbook makers and users.

If you own a netbook, fear not.  XP’s retirement should have little effect on you.  You’ll still get security patches when needed, and chances of any non-security issues popping up are quite slim thanks to its 3 Service Packs.  Microsoft says primary support for XP versions running on netbooks is the responsibility of the OEM anyway, not them.

Read [PCWorld]