Software group Microsoft has announced it has ceased support for the original version of its Windows Vista operating system.
The company said users still running the original version must upgrade to the Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 versions if they wish to continue receiving updates and support.
“The revised policy allows Microsoft support professionals to make the best effort to provide limited break/fix troubleshooting to customers on unsupported service packs, even without custom support contracts, and help them migrate to a supported service pack,” a spokesperson told InformationWeek.
“Microsoft requires customers to transition to supported service packs to receive hotfixes, security updates, time zone updates, or access to sustained engineering.”
It is a short lifespan for the OS, which debuted in January 2007. Vista has largely been panned by critics who slammed its buggy nature, with Windows 7 having taken over much of Vista’s user base.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
