Microsoft will continue providing custom patches to paying customers

Sep 2, 2013 09:07 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP will be officially retired on April 8, 2014, so consumers who decide to stick to this platform beyond this date are exposed to a wide array of attacks.

Microsoft will, however, continue providing custom patches to users registered for Premier Support, the company confirmed in a statement for ZDNet.

“Third parties may provide ongoing support, but it’s important to recognize that support will not address fixes and security patches in the core Windows kernel. If an organization continues to use Windows XP and purchases Custom Support, they will receive critical security updates as new threats are discovered, along with technical support through their Premier contract,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.

While the possibility to purchase custom support is indeed great news for companies who wish to stick to Windows XP, such an option is extremely expensive and not many businesses would actually afford it.

Microsoft doesn’t provide specific pricing details for custom support, but this kind of option has been around for a while, as Windows XP SP2 users who purchased Premier Support have been provided with similar patches in 2010.