Microsoft has warned businesses that in the next two years it will be ending support for the popular Windows XP and Office 2003 families.
Microsoft will end support for the operating system on 8 April 2014.
Windows XP has to be one of the most popular operating systems Microsoft has ever produced.
Although it was followed by the deservedly maligned Vista and a highly admired and respected Windows 7 and with Windows 8 expected this year, Microsoft is urging firms to waste no time in upgrading.
“If you still have some PCs running Windows XP and Office 2003 in your organisation, now would be a good time to start migrating them to Windows 7 and Office 2010,” Microsoft’s Stella Chernyak wrote in the official Windows blog.
Chernyak said companies shouldn’t wait until the next version of Windows and Office are available.
”We don’t recommend waiting. Not only is it important for companies to complete deployment before support runs out, but they should also be aware that by upgrading to Windows 7 and Office 2010 today they can gain substantial results today while laying the foundation for future versions of these products.
“And with over 525m Windows 7 licences sold since its release, many customers are already taking advantage of everything Windows 7 has to offer.
“If you haven’t yet already, we do hope that you take this end of support countdown as an opportunity to migrate your PCs to Windows 7 and Office 2010 so that your business and employees are more productive and secure,” Chernyak said.