Approaching End of Life for Original Platforms

When WCF first shipped the supported platforms were the latest available operating system releases: Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows Vista RTM. Windows 2003 was the only server platform. WCF came with Windows Vista and was a downloadable install on Windows XP.

Windows 2003 SP1 has been retired for almost a year but now the other platforms are reaching the end of their mainstream support lives as well. The end of mainstream support for Windows Vista RTM is six weeks away on April 13, 2010. The final of the original platforms to go is Windows XP SP2, which follows three months afterwards on July 13, 2010. You have to install newer service packs to continue to get support.

It's hard to believe that by the end of summer any remaining first generation deployments of WCF will be an exotic configuration.