Along with Google, Apple and the usual band of rivals, one of the clear targets for Microsoft at its Worldwide Partner Conference this month was Microsoft itself. Well, older Microsoft technologies to be exact.

Executives, including chief executive Steve Ballmer and COO Kevin Turner, took the stage to talk about both how much they love Windows XP and its venerable nature, and how much they’d really like partners to get their customers off XP and onto Windows 7, and then Windows 8, of course.

With Windows XP now two full Windows generations old and a third generation on the way, and with a deadline for Windows XP end of support on April 8, 2014 – “Less than 1,000 days away,” Microsoft reminds partners – the company is working hard to get customers moving forward to Windows 7, which they’ve started to position as the best path to Windows 8 when it launches.

And for those of you with clients on Windows Vista (Hey… it’s possible!) the company has also ended support for SP1, meaning that customers must be on the latest service pack to continue to be supported.

In this QuickVid, we catch up with Microsoft Canada’s Rochelle Coleman to discuss the changes in support, and more importantly, what Microsoft partners can do about it.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7n-vveRBlc