Microsoft has issued a reminder this week that it will stop providing support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 on July 13, 2010. After this date, public support for these products ends and Microsoft will no longer provide any assisted support or security updates. On the same day, Windows 2000 Server will move out of Extended Support while Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will move from Mainstream Support to Extended Support, which will end on July 14, 2015. For most of its software, Microsoft provides Mainstream Support, followed by Extended Support, and finishes with just Self-Help Online Support.

For Windows 2000, this means that Service Pack 4 is the end of the line (which should not come as a surprise as Microsoft has noted this before). These users are encouraged to move up to Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Windows 2000 SP3 support was retired on June 30, 2005, SP2 support was retired on May 16, 2001, and SP1 support was retired on July 31, 2000.

For Windows XP SP2, users are encouraged to move to Windows 7, Windows Vista, or simply Windows XP Service Pack 3, for which support will end two years after the next service pack (likely not happening) or at the end of the product's supported lifecycle, whichever comes first. Microsoft retired Mainstream Support for Windows XP on April 14, 2009, but Extended Support won't be retired until April 8, 2014. This date affect all versions of XP (except for Embedded): Home Edition, Media Center Edition 2002, Media Center Edition 2004, Media Center Edition 2005, Professional, Tablet PC Edition, and Tablet PC Edition 2005. Support for SP1 was retired on October 10, 2006.

We'll keep you posted on upcoming Microsoft support end dates for its major software products. Hit up the link below for related Windows migration guides.