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In the coming months Microsoft will be ending support—including security updates—for a number of important products. If you’ve avoided updating so far, you might want to get moving.

The first event will be April 13, 2010 (like all end-of-support days, a patch tuesday), when support will end for 2 important configurations: Windows Vista with no service packs (a.k.a. Vista RTM and Vista SP0), and Windows XP SP2. If you are running these versions after that April 13 you will no longer receive updates or support. In each case, the answer is obvious: Apply the latest service pack (SP2 for Vista, SP3 for XP). Better yet, if you’re running XP, go get a new PC running a secure operating system, such as Windows 7.

On July 13, 2010, Windows 2000 in all service packs will reach the end of it’s "Extended Support Phase," meaning no updates anymore. It’s not in any of the announcements, but I presume that this implies the end of all support for Internet Explorer 5, currently only supported on Windows 2000.

On the same July date, all editions of Windows Server 2003 will be moving from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase. This won’t matter to many, perhaps most users, but it signals the end of "no charge" support and Microsoft will no longer be providing new non-security hotfixes. So you’ll need to open a paid support case in order to get support from Microsoft.

Looking to get out of Win2K Town before the bell rings? Check out the Windows 2000 End-of-Support Solution Center.

[ Source: PC Mag ]

This is the Kodak Bantam Special, a beautiful camera from 1936, made from machined aluminum and finished with enamel. The camera was designed by a company named Teague, and employee Sarah Matheny posted this lovely picture on the revamped Teague blog.

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[ Source: WIRED / Teague ]

Nokia is going to release the Gold Edition (18 carat) of their Nokia N97 Mini, atleast according to Nokia in Poland. The 18 carat N97 Mini “Gold edition” is going to cost about 850$  and comes with apps like “ELLE 360Fashion”.

[via Nokia Poland]

  Nearly 5,000 people have signed an online petition urging government departments to dump Internet Explorer 6 (IE6).

IE6 contains well known security flaws but is still being used extensively in Whitehall, including at the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The security problems of using the outdated browser were highlighted when it was revealed that Chinese hackers recently exploited a flaw in IE6 in an attempt to infiltrate the corporate systems of Google, Adobe and several other firms.

Government use of IE6 is also a problem because companies building web sites have to include support for the browser so that the departments can view their sites.

"IE6 ‘end of life’ was extended to 2014 by governments and business not ready or willing to upgrade," says the petition posted by Dan Frydman from Inigo Media, a company that builds web sites.

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Symbian has completed the process of open sourcing its entire code base, in advance of its June deadline.

While the release is ahead of schedule, the first phones — expected to be out early next year — will hit the market more than two years after the first Android phone became available. The Symbian software will have to be unique and attractive to compete with Android, its main open-source competitor, and other popular operating systems, an analyst said.

The process of making the Symbian operating system open source started with Nokia’s announcement in June 2008 that it would buy out the rest of Symbian and release the code to the public.

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