Free Microsoft support for Windows XP, Office 2003 ends next month

Microsoft will end official free support for Windows XP Home Edition and Microsoft Office 2003 on April 14th. That doesn't mean the help center on your computer will stop working, but you won't be able to get free answers to your questions from Microsoft anymore. You will be able to pay for extended support for both products through 2014.

Microsoft will also continue providing free security-related hotfixes to non-subscribing customers. So unless you frequently make calls to Microsoft support, the April 14th deadline might not really affect you.

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Beta as a Free Download

Microsoft's excitable CEO Steve Ballmer showed off Windows 7 the slick, fast, user-friendly successor to the much-maligned Windows Vista and said it will be available as a public beta on Friday.

Unveiled by an intense Ballmer during his keynote address on the eve of CES 2009, Windows 7 will offer better performance on underpowered machines such as netbooks, support for multitouch interfaces, and simplified home networking.

Ballmer said that this would be the "best version of Windows ever" and pointed out features that implicitly acknowledged the problems with Windows Vista.

"We are putting in all the right ingredients simplicity, reliability and speed and working hard to get it right and to get it ready," said Ballmer.

Read more at Wired