If you're running Windows Vista or Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 it may be time to think about upgrading as today marks the end of Microsoft's mainstream support for the products. As with all Microsoft products it will move into the Extended support phase which lasts for some time, in Vista and Exchange Server 2007's case until April 2017. The main difference between the phases is Microsoft will not accept requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features during the Extended Support phase, and Extended Support is not available for Consumer, Hardware, or Multimedia products. Further information on the Mainstream and Extended support phases, and product lifecycles in general, can be found here. We thought we'd take this opportunity to share some of the other support lifecycle dates for Microsoft products:   Windows Desktop OS's

Desktop operating system	End of mainstream support	End of extended support
Windows XP	April 14, 2009	April 8, 2014
Windows Vista	April 10, 2012	April 11, 2017
Windows 7	January 12, 2015	January 14, 2020

Windows Server OS's

Server operating system	End of mainstream support	End of extended support
Windows Server 2003	July 13, 2010	July 14, 2015
Windows Server 2008	July 09, 2013	July 10, 2018
Windows Server 2008 R2	July 09, 2013	July 10, 2018

Microsoft Exchange Server

Exchange Server Version	End of mainstream support	End of extended support
Exchange Server 2003	April 14, 2009	April 08, 2014
Exchange Server 2007	April 10 , 2012	April 11, 2017
Exchange Server 2010	January 13, 2015	January 14, 2020

Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server Version	End of mainstream support	End of extended support
SQL Server 2005	April 12, 2011	April 12, 2016
SQL Server 2008	January 14 , 2014	January 08, 2019
SQL Server 2008 R2	January 14 , 2014	January 08, 2019
SQL Server 2012	July 11 , 2017	July 11, 2022

As you can see from the above Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 are the next products to move to Extended support in July of next year. Good job Windows Server 8 is around the corner!