By Leo Notenboom
How long can I keep running my copy of Windows?
My OS is Vista and Microsoft intends to stop support on 10-Apr-2012. I know that thousands (if not many more) people throughout the world are very concerned about this. I personally am now very pleased with Vista. I have tested it against other computers running XP and Windows 7 and found that in all cases, it compared more than favorably. This is in no small way due to your newsletters as by using image backups, I have been able to modify Vista considerably. Your advice in this matter would I know be gratefully received by many people, especially those on tight budgets.
While I’ve rarely heard of this concern about Windows Vista, the sentiment actually applies across all versions of Windows.
How long can you keep using it?
Well, the glib answer is: as long as you want, as long as you understand the risks.
The more practical answer is: a lot longer than you may think.
Just ask the millions still using Windows XP.
The Product Lifecycle
Windows versions go through various stages over time, referred to as the product lifecycle.
From initial sales through end of sales through a couple of different stages of end of support, every version of Windows lives, and dies, through a fairly well-defined series of stages.
Let’s look at each of the end-of-life stages individually.
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This post is excerpted with Leo’s permission from his blog.
