In the ongoing “upgrade or die” world of publishing software, Microsoft announced that Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Client, and Windows XP with Service Pack 2 support is going to end on July 13, 2010.

What does this mean for everyone still on Windows 2000 and XP Service Pack 2? Pretty much after July 13, 2010 there will no longer be any updates for problems that anyone finds with those systems. There will no longer be any support from Microsoft even if you call them and ask for it (…well, mostly. There will be some limited exceptions to this). And, most important of all, other software publishers will start to end their support for anything they have for Windows 2000 since Microsoft is officially turning off all the lights on the 2000 party.

If you are running XP, all you need to do is go online let software update upgrade your copy of XP to Service Pack 3. Microsoft will still support XP with service pack 3 until 2014!

You don’t have to upgrade to Windows 7 or their 2008 Server despite all the innuendo in Microsoft’s statements. Just be certain you have a backup of your current system in early July 2010. That way if something goes horribly wrong, you can restore that machine to the last “updated” copy without needing to search for any downloads that may no longer be online. You can use DriveImageXML to back up your drive, and best of all, it is free software! Lifehacker has a great writeup on how to use DriveImageXML, too.