Microsoft Support Lifecycle Update - November 2007
Hi All,
Welcome to the latest edition of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Update. This Microsoft Support Lifecycle information is made available to keep you better informed which will increase your planning efforts for many support/maintenance related projects.
All the information contained in this email is available from various locations on microsoft.com but I am consolidating it here to ease of review. Since the website is going to be more up-to-date than this static post, the website information will always take precedence.
Lifecycle Website: https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/
Lifecycle Top-5 Things You Should Know:
1. MSL Policy provides a minimum of five years of Mainstream and five years of Extended Support
2. Extended Support phase includes security updates at no additional cost (on latest service pack) and fee-based incident support
3. Extended Support phase includes the option of Extended Hotfix Support (EHS)
4. After the five-year Extended Support phase, products are not supported, but Custom Support may be available
5. Customers are encouraged to stay current on service packs, which minimizes their risk to security exploits or loss of support.
Upcoming Critical Product Transitions
Transitioning from Mainstream Support to Extended Support:
· SQL Server 2000 - April 8, 2008
· Exchange Server 2003 - April 14, 2009
· Windows XP Professional (all versions) - April 14, 2009
· Windows XP Professional x64 - April 14, 2009
Transitioning to Non-Support:
· Visual Basic 6.0 (Enterprise and Standard Edition) - April 8, 2008
Transitioning from Mainstream Support to Non-Support:
· Great Plains 8.0 - October 13, 2009*
Mainstream Support Extended
· Content Management Server 2002 - April 14, 2009
Service Packs going out of support:
· Exchange Server 2003 SP1 - January 8, 2008
· Visual Studio 2005 SP0 - January 8, 2008
· SQL Server 2005 SP1 - April 8, 2008
· Systems Management Server 2003 SP2 - July 8, 2008
Other Announcements and Information
Service Packs to be Listed in Support Lifecycle Database
Service Packs will soon be listed in the Support Lifecycle database. Currently, the Service Packs are listed in their own database, apart from the main product database of lifecycle support dates. Starting in the second quarter, you can access all Service Pack dates by searching the main database on the Support Lifecycle web site at https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search. This will help streamline your search efforts when looking for products transitioning phases of support!
Content Management Server 2002 Support Date Extended
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) is considered the follow-on product for Content Management Server (CMS) 2002, we have determined support for CMS 2002 should be extended. As a result, Mainstream Support for Content Management Server 2002 will end April 14, 2009, and Extended Support until April 8, 2014.
The date was determined once the successor product, MOSS 2007, was released. According to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy, Mainstream Support for Business and Developer products is provided for five years or for two years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is longer.
Here are a couple of Webcast that can help prepare you for the transition from CMS 2002 to MOSS 2007:
Ø Webcast: Preparing for Web Content Management with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Learn about new features, tools, and resources that are available to help customers migrate their sites.)
Ø Webcast: The Evolution of Web Content Management in the 2007 Version of Microsoft Office