Microsoft Support Lifecycle Update - March 2008

Welcome to the latest edition of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Update. This posting regarding Microsoft Support Lifecycle information is being sent to keep you better informed which will increase your planning efforts for many support/maintenance related projects.

All the information contained in this posting 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*

· Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM) Migration Tools - April 14, 2009

Mainstream Support Extended

· Content Management Server 2002 - April 14, 2009

Service Packs going out of support:

· SQL Server 2005 SP1 - April 8, 2008

· Systems Management Server 2003 SP2 - July 8, 2008

· Office System 2003 Service Pack 2 - October 14, 2008

Other Announcements and Information

*NEW! Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 – Mainstream Support Ends July 13, 2010; Extended Support Ends July 14, 2015
Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will transition from Mainstream Support to Extended Support on July 13, 2010. Extended Support for both will end on July 14, 2015. This date was announced because the follow-on product, Windows Server 2008, released to manufacturing (RTM) on February 4, 2008. This transition timeline is in line with the Support Lifecycle policy, which states that Mainstream Support for Business and Developer products will be provided for either five years or for two years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is longer.

*NEW! Update Available for Extended Hotfix Support (EHS)for Daylight Saving Time (DST)
With the spring time change near, it is important for customers to be aware that their existing EHS DST contracts may be expiring. Customers who wish to purchase the 2008 EHS DST can do so through their normal hotfix fulfillment process. New EHS DST contracts signed on or after January 1, 2008 will end on December 31 of the year the service contract was signed. For example, if a customer enters into an EHS DST Agreement on March 15, 2008, the end date for the contract will be December 31, 2008. If a customer enters into an EHS DST Agreement on January 1, 2009, the contract will end December 31, 2009.

Customers who have a current Custom Support agreement must use the hotfix request process to request DST updates for that product. They must pay the appropriate “per hotfix fee” for the DST hotfix for each product that has a Custom Support Agreement.

Note: DST Update Events follow normal and existing support policies and procedures. Incident-based support will be handled according to the normal support guidelines. Customers who do not have Premier Support can enroll in EHS for DST by contacting Microsoft Customer Service. More details are available here: https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean22.

*NEW! Windows Messenger 5.1 Mainstream Support Ends on January 13, 2009
Windows Messenger 5.1 is considered a component of Live Communications Server 2003. As such, Windows Messenger 5.1 will transition from Mainstream Support to Extended Support on January 13, 2009, at the same time as Live Communications Server 2003. Windows Messenger 5.1 is covered by the same Extended Hotfix Support Agreement as that for Live Communications Server 2003.

This announcement is in line with the Lifecycle policy that states components are supported with the lifecycle of the product or service pack they were shipped with.

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, such as Windows, Office, Server, and so on, but will remain consistent within the product family. In the past, decisions were made for individual products, which made the predictability of service pack support for customers a challenge. 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 established for the product family.

Service pack timelines for each product family are now published on the Support Lifecycle Web site.

To access the full announcement go to: https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean30

Systems Management Server 2003 and 2003 R2 Support Date Extended
Systems Management Server (SMS) 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. Both the Mainstream and Extended Support dates were extended once the follow-on product, 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.

*REMINDER!
Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM) Support has Ended, Custom Support Available Support for customers running the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM) ended on December 31, 2007. MSJVM transitioned to a non-supported status. Microsoft will no longer provide public support (including no further phone support, incident support or security updates) . Customers still in the process of migration who need additional support can purchase Custom Support for a limited duration.

Note: Custom Support requires customers to have support on the underlying operating system that MSJVM is installed on, such as: Windows 2000, or Windows NT4 or Windows XP Service Pack 1.

Nick.