Today is the day, Server 2003 is no longer supported by Microsoft, at least not without a payment of $600 per server to extend coverage. No more patches for exploits nor will Microsoft technicians be interested in your high priority requests for help with issues. For many companies it will be business as usual while the IT departments seek out third party tools to help prevent the inevitable infections which will start to take down entire infrastructures. Sadly the cries of 'I told you so' will fall on deaf ears and cost many a job as executives who can't bear the idea of using a smartphone more than one year old fail to comprehend a 12 year old server OS is a bad thing. As The Inquirer points out, Microsoft is not entirely free from blame here, they have failed to produce Server 2016 at this point and unless you want to move to Azure you would have to upgrade to other versions slated start their end in less than three years.
For users of another deprecated OS, Windows XP, you will no longer be receiving Malicious Software Removal Tool updates. While you should not be relying solely on that product for your security it is a layer of defense you can no longer count on. For the 12% of PCs that still run WinXP across the globe, you should be considering an upgrade and as Scott pointed out you have little time left to grab a preview of Windows 10 to test before its release. Microsoft representatives claim there is no coincidence that it ended on the same day Server 2003 and that this particular decison was made a year ago.
"Other reasons for the lack of urgency have included the delay to Server 2016, which should have been released by now, and the austere times making for a 'mend and make do' mentality."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Supercapacitors reveal their secrets @ Nanotechweb
- New Default: Mozilla Temporarily Disables Flash In Firefox @ Slashdot
- Samsung to launch Galaxy Note 5 in mid-August, say sources @ DigiTimes
- Microsoft's Surface Hub mega-slab DELAYED 'cause you demanded it @ The Register
- New Part Day: The ESP8266 Killer @ Hack a Day
- A New 3D Printing Support Filament Easily Dissolves Away in Water @ Gizmodo
- Foxconn to hire a million Indian staff in major base shift @ The Register
- Netatmo Welcome Home Camera With Facial Recognition @ eTeknix
- The Tech ARP + Western Digital My Passport Wireless Contest
Can the Malicious Software
Can the Malicious Software Removal Tool remove Windows! There appears to be an extra amount of telemetry going on with that OS, and its increasing with every new release propensity to phone home with even more personal metrics.
Any good antivirus is supposed to remove Malicious software, no assistance from M$ needed or wanted, and XP will do just fine running in a locked down VM, for those who need it to safely do so, same for server 2003, with an extended contract for those that have mission critical software that is not available on newer versions of the server OS. Lots of systems still running 2003, and will be doing so under contract, because some enterprises’ mission critical software is even more expensive to replace that what M$ will charge for extended support.
They still have had plenty of
They still have had plenty of time to upgrade their apps from this archaic OS.
Its quite surprising, since technology is so important to every organization, but let them have a network breach because they have a dinosaur app on a 12 year old OS.
M$, as you put it, shouldn’t have to support 2003 anymore.
Not if the cost of upgrading
Not if the cost of upgrading the mission critical applications are more than the cost of extended M$ support, and M$ will give its enterprise customers the extended support, or the customers will go to Linux on their server systems. If the company bean counters say get the extended support, and plenty will be in that boat, with no rewrites of their mission critical software available or certified to work with the newer OS. Other software systems besides the OS cost businesses boat loads of money. An XP ONLY software suit running a multimillion dollar milling machine and no option for an upgrade unless a newer more expensive milling machine is purchased will keep some businesses on XP and earlier M$ OSs! In the server room, if the enterprise can not get an extended support contract from M$, then that makes a move to a Linux OS more of an option financially, as the business will have to rewrite the mission critical software and have it certified to work with any new OS, M$ can not afford to force the matter or they will lose more business customers. It’s no wonder the vast majority of server systems run enterprise Linux server builds, and more on the way!