Timelines of Windows XP’s development

● In 2000, Microsoft started developing Windows Whistler- the predecessor of Windows XP.

● In October of 2001, Microsoft vice president Jim Allchin launched Windows XP, and its professional and home editions were also released.

● Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002.

● Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released on August 25, 2004.

● In 2005, Microsoft made available 64-bit editions of XP and Windows Server 2003.

● Microsoft released Window Vista in January of 2007, planning to quickly terminate the sales of Windows XP.

● Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) was released on April 21, 2008, and Microsoft announced that this would be the last XP upgrade. In the same year, sales of Windows XP licenses to most OEMs ceased on June 30, 2008.

● On April 14, 2009, Windows XP mainstream support was withdrawn and XP entered the Extended Support phase - Microsoft continued to provide security updates every month, but free technical support, warranty claims, and design changes were no longer being offered.

● In 2013, Microsoft announced that all support for Windows XP would end on April 8, 2014.

● On April 8, after more than 12 years, Windows XP was retired.


The article is edited and translated from 《XP今天退场，你们准备好了吗》, source: Jie Fang Daily, author: Ye Jian and 《微软XP系统今“退休” 中国数亿用户面临安全风险》, source: China News, authors: Duan Hongbiao, Zhang Sinan