Marilyn,
Actually ,support has been extended as follows:
Both, XP Home and XP Pro (also XP MCE (media center edition))
  Mainstream Support until 2009-04-14
   Extended Support        2014-04-08
Source http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex

Activation should not be affected.Support is for patches, updates etc
and also email support for those items.
Just buy your copy at the best price you can and enjoy it.
Remember that an OEM copy may be cheaper,but doesn't allow many 
re-installations or installing on different hardware.
That's the official line anyway.

Peter E



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [PCSOFT] New Build with XP
From: Marilyn Wilson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: 21-Feb-2008 3:29:05 PM

I'm planning on building a new computer either next fall or winter.  I
understand Microsoft is not going to support it beyond the end of June
this year.  If I buy a retail copy of XP will I still be able to
activate it next year and is there anything special I should do before
the end of June?

Thanks for any advice.

Marilyn

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