Microsoft Support Lifecycle - December 2007 Update
Hi All,
Please find below this quarter’s update regarding Microsoft Support Lifecycle, including the next deadlines of support, the support extensions, the products and/or service packs being retired, along with the MSL Excel file attached listing the main products.
Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle policy provides consistent and predictable guidelines for product support availability at the time of product release. Microsoft will offer a minimum of 10 years support (5 years of Mainstream support and 5 years of Extended) for Business and Developer products. For more detailed information on the policy or the lifecycle of a product, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/lifecycle.
Here is the key information for this quarter:
What’s new
- Service Pack Policy Updated: In response to customer feedback, Microsoft is pleased to announce modifications to the service pack support policy. Support for service packs will now vary according to the product family, but will remain consistent within the product family. In the past, decisions were made for individual products. Based on the modified policy, Microsoft will no longer make decisions based on individual service packs as they are released. Instead, each service pack will follow the support timeline previously established for the product family. For instance, a Windows service pack will be supported 24 months after the release of the next service pack, whereas Office service pack will be supported 12 months.
- Extended Support Now Provided for Select Microsoft Dynamics Products: Microsoft recently announced the addition of Extended Support for Microsoft Dynamics products under the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. In the past, Microsoft Dynamics products received five years of Mainstream Support, before support ended. With the addition of Extended Support, selected Microsoft Dynamics products will receive a minimum of 10 years of support from Microsoft. For more information: https://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2007/oct07/10-24BRCCPR.mspx.
- This month the various versions of Commerce Server have been added to the Excel file and the product list for Microsoft Business Solutions has been updated.
Products transitioning to Extended Support
- SQL Server 2000 SP4 will enter Extended Support on April 8, 2008.
- Systems Management Server 2003 and 2003 R2 Support Date Extended: Both the Mainstream and Extended Support dates were extended once the follow-on release, System Center Configuration Manager 2007, was released to manufacturers. This announcement is in line with the Lifecycle Policy that states a product will remain in Mainstream Support for two years after the follow-on release. Therefore, Systems Management Server 2003 and Systems Management Server 2003 R2 will transition from Mainstream Support to Extended Support on January 12, 2010. Extended Support will now end on January 13, 2015.
Products retiring
- Final reminder : Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM) will reach its end of life on December 31, 2007. For more information, please review the following document: https://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/java/default.mspx
- Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise and Standard Editions will transition from Extended Support to end of support on April 8, 2008. Please note that Visual Basic 6 Runtime, which is shipped as a component of the operating system, remains supported as part of the operating system lifecycle. Customers are encouraged to migrate to Visual Basic.NET. Custom Support will be available.
- Commerce Server 2000 will NO longer be supported from April 8, 2008.
Service Packs retiring
- Exchange Server 2003 SP1 will NO longer be supported from January 8, 2008. It is recommended to upgrade to Service Pack 2 as soon as possible prior to this date.
- BizTalk Server 2004 SP1 will NO longer be supported from January 8, 2008. It is recommended to upgrade to Service Pack 2 as soon as possible prior to this date.
- Commerce Server 2003 SP3 will NO longer be supported from January 8, 2008. It is recommended to upgrade to Service Pack 4 as soon as possible prior to this date.
- Visual Studio 2005 RTM will NO longer be supported from January 8, 2008. It is recommended to upgrade to Service Pack 1 as soon as possible prior to this date.
Nick