End of Mainstream support for SQL Server 2000 & 2005 (SP1) today, then how about SP2?
The subject say it all, as of today the mainstream support for SQL Server 2000 (SP4) and SQL Server 2005 (SP1) will be ended. That means for SQL Server 2005 service pack 1 there will not be any support and that can be obtained with a Custom Support agreement where few applications may have issues in upgrading to Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005, also the general suggestion is to upgrade to Service Pack 2 on SQL 2005 that has been stable since 1 year from its release!
Further going towards the major implementation on global basis,many enterprises out there are sitll functioning with SQL Server 2000 version (SP4 for discussion sake) and this clarifies a bit further that technical support continues till 2013 (hopefull until April 9th) and the mainstream support for any kind of hotfix or cumulative fix will be ending from today, the usual reply you would get from a Support team is to upgrade the SQL installation to SQL Server 2005 SP2 (atleast) and if you have any extended support agreement with CSS team.
This brings a big question how about Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005, the usual Product Lifecycle page on Microsoft confirms that such support ends either 12 or 24 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product's support lifecycle or whichever comes first. You can visit that page for more information on specified products.
Also related content from AndrewFryer's blog post.