Microsoft Ends Support for Windows Server 2003

The support of Windows XP officially ended on April 8, 2014, and now, more than a year later Microsoft will shut down another Windows version. This time the company stopped supporting Windows Server 2003 on July 14^th.

Windows Server 2003 was released on April 24, 2003, and now, twelve years after, Microsoft decided to officially end its support yesterday, on July 14^th, as the company rolled out the latest batch of updates as a part of this month’s Patch Tuesday monthly cycle. After the update, users who are still using Windows Server 2003 may become vulnerable to various security attacks in case un-patched security holes are found in their system, because Microsoft won’t fix them anymore.

Microsoft will still provide support for Windows Server 2003, but for the specific price, just like it was the case with Windows XP. Company didn’t actually reveal how much the extended support will cost on a yearly basis, but we know that it cost approximately $200 in the first 12 months after end of support for each PC using Windows XP.

Although the support for Windows 2003 is now officially ended, a lot of companies still use it. For example, the study conducted by Dell showed us that more than 23 percent of businesses using this operating system for their servers said that they have absolutely no reason to upgrade, while 40 percent of businesses explained they will delay the upgrade process, because of application support requirements.

But decision to stick with Windows Server 2003 could be tricky for those who decide to do that. Because, as we said security of Windows Servers 2003 will be minimal now the support from Microsoft is officially over, so many believe that machines running this operating system will become the main target for hackers in the next few months.

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