PSA: Mainstream Support for Windows Vista Ends Today

By Jane McEntegart
published

Just five more years of Vista left.

If you're still using Windows Vista on your PC, you might like to know that today is the last day of Mainstream Support for the operating system. Released in 2006 as a follow-on to Microsoft's hugely successful Windows XP, Vista never achieved the blockbuster status of its predecessor. Today, the operating system inched a little closer to obsolescence as Mainstream Support for the software ended.

Now, if you're still running Vista, there's no need to panic. Just because Mainstream Support has ended, that doesn't mean you'll no longer receive support of any kind from Redmond. Mary Jo Foley reports that though today marks the day of free and regular updates, including both security fixes and other patches for Vista, the OS is now into what's called Extended Support. Extended Support offers free security updates while most other updates are available for a fee.

Mainstream support for Windows XP ended in 2009. The OS has been in Extended Support since then and will remain supported until April 2014. Windows Vista users will enjoy Extended Support until April of 2017.

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Jane McEntegart
41 Comments Comment from the forums
  • willard
    About time. I'm sure the sooner people forget Vista happened, the happier Microsoft will be.
    Reply
  • scythe944
    willardAbout time. I'm sure the sooner people forget Vista happened, the happier Microsoft will be.

    I'm not sure man, Win 8 might leave the same bad taste, unless the entire world moves over to tablets pretty soon.
    Reply
  • killerclick
    I hope Windows 7 supports lasts until Steve Ballmer gets ousted, Microsoft dumps their Metro fixation and realizes that PCs are not mobile phones.
    Reply
  • foscooter
    Vista, like ME, was just......UGH!

    Windows 98SE and XP were good, but I must admit, 7 is great.

    Except for no native e-mail client, like Outlook Express and whatever Vista had, Windows Mail?
    Reply
  • Everyone who complaiend about vista and ME were either early adopters expecting all of their applications to just work (which has absolutely NOTHING to do with Microsoft, go bitch at your vendors) or plain knob heads.

    I ran windows ME for 8 years with absolutely NO problems. I also ran Vista for a solid 3-4 Years and I was running 64-bit starting from the beta age. Sure there were application compatibility issue and hiccups but that IS TO BE EXPECTED when you are adaopting a new OS that is not fully supported. Windows XP was the exact same and I didnt touch that OS until 10 years after it came out and I still hated it.
    Reply
  • dormantreign
    I can smell disaster for windows 8. I hated vista as well but love 7. I don't think many people are going to install 8 on their desktop. You have a few people who dual boot, and some other people who just go out and buy a new PC with it on not knowing any better but its going to flop. I think id rather switch to OSX, nah...i think ill just keep 7.
    Reply
  • jackbling
    scythe944I'm not sure man, Win 8 might leave the same bad taste, unless the entire world moves over to tablets pretty soon.
    using windows8 on a touchscreen is fairly fluid, if your goal is a visually appealing interface; personally ill take function over form.

    instant search alone has giving back countless hours of my life since vista(i work in IT and am on a PC ~16hours a day.)
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    foscooterVista, like ME, was just......UGH!Windows 98SE and XP were good, but I must admit, 7 is great.Except for no native e-mail client, like Outlook Express and whatever Vista had, Windows Mail?There is native mail in Windows 7.
    Reply
  • bystander
    foscooterVista, like ME, was just......UGH!Windows 98SE and XP were good, but I must admit, 7 is great.Except for no native e-mail client, like Outlook Express and whatever Vista had, Windows Mail?Vista was a lot better than ME. There was nothing redeeming about ME, but you can see Win 7 is a success, and it's basically Vista with some minor tweaks. The biggest difference was when Win 7 was released the computers that were available at release were good enough for the OS.

    Vista was just too much for the average computer, but the hardware caught up by the time Win 7 released.

    I do believe Win 8 will suffer at the desktop, while loved on the mobile phone and tablet market. Not that it will suck, but I believe Microsoft releases OS's twice as fast as the public wants them.
    Reply
  • 11796pcs
    I liked Windows Vista and if it hadn't been for the minimum requirement computers released with Vista, the poor press, and the lack of available drivers at launch I believe Vista would have been much more of a success. Everyone complains about Vista but rarely do they actually say what they disliked about it. It looks VERY similar to 7, has the same core drivers, and has generally the same compatibility. If you want something to be mad at MSFT about, complain about 8. Now that's trash. Vista had a couple of problems. 8 is an attack on the fundamentals Microsoft has built for Windows during the last 20 years. I agree that Microsoft releases OSes too fast but Vista was not Microsoft's fault. It was the vendors and the press that made Vista into something bad.
    Reply