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Posted: May 24, 2004
Business and development products will get full support for a longer
period under product life-cycle changes that Microsoft announced in May 2004.
Microsoft divides a product's life cycle into three phases: Mainstream
(full support), Extended (limited support), and Online Self-Help (no support other than
Web documentation). The chart below summarizes the three phases as they apply to business
and development software under the most recent rules.
The rules now guarantee full support for a product version until two
years after the successor version ships, ensuring that companies have at least two years
to upgrade. In addition, the new rules guarantee Extended support for five years, versus
two years previously. This implies full support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
into 2008, with paid support and free security hotfixes into 2013.
| Life-Cycle
Phase |
Normal
Duration |
Product
Support Options |
Software
Updates |
| Mainstream |
Five years from the date of general
availability, or until two years after release of a successor version, whichever is
longer. |
- Premier support and other fee-based product support options
- Free incident support (per warranty)
- Online support information
|
- Security-related hotfixes (free)
- Non-security-related hotfixes (free)
- Service Packs and hotfix rollups (free)
|
| Extended |
Five years from the end of the Mainstream
phase |
- Premier support and other fee-based product support options
- Online support information
|
- Security-related hotfixes (free)
- Non-security-related hotfixes (requires fee-based contract)
|
| Online Self-Help |
Ten-plus years from the date of general
availability |
- Online support information
|
For certain products with large installed
bases (such as Windows NT 4.0), Microsoft might continue to offer free security-related
hotfixes |
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