Microsoft will drop mainstream support for Office 2003 on April 14th (the same day that the retirement process begins for Windows XP). Although mainstream support for the Office 2003 applications suite will come to an end, Microsoft has the product scheduled to remain in “extended support” until April 8, 2014. Under extended support, Microsoft only plans to deliver patches and bug fixes. Any other maintenance will be available only to users who have signed support contracts with Microsoft. The Windows XP operating system has similar contractual terms. As with Office 2003, mainstream support will end for XP on April 14, and only users who have signed up for extended support with Microsoft will continue to receive help after that.

Butler Group analyst Richard Edwards said Monday that discontinuation of support for the two products is not expected to cause disruption to business users. As far as XP is concerned, users will have decided long ago that they are either going to wait for Windows 7, or make the move to Vista, Edwards said. Similar decisions would have to be taken over Office 2003, he added. “The decision is to either make the move to Office 2007, or wait for the next version of Office, and in the meantime pay Microsoft if you think you will need support,” Edwards said.

Source: CNET