Folks, this summer the following products will be end of life, i.e. no support of any kind for the following products:
- XP SP2 – upgrade to a newer service pack
- Vista RTM – upgrade to a newer service pack
- Windows 2000 – upgrade to Windows XP SP3 or later, Windows Vista SP1 or later, or Windows 7
- Windows Sever 2000 – upgrade to Windows Server 2003/2003 R2/2008 or migrate to Windows Server 2008 R2.
Go to the Microsoft product life cycle site for precise details.
For the server replacement, I’d strongly consider you look at moving to an x64 server operating system. Making the jump now will ease future upgrades. A few notes:
- Microsoft hates upgrades because they are messy. Problems are inherited/created.
- You cannot upgrade from x86 to x64 or vice versa.
- You cannot upgrade from a full installation to a core installation.
- You need the correct licensing for the server and the CAL’s.
- Check application compatibility.
- Test, test, test and verify with application/hardware vendors before making changes.