The most visible change to the Microsoft support life cycle is the longer period of Extended support, now five years rather than two years. Not shown in this illustration is additional flexibility that Microsoft has built into the support life cycle. Both Mainstream support and Extended support can exceed five years if the time between a product and its successor(s) exceeds certain limits. Mainstream support for a product continues at least two years after its successor ships, even if that extends the Mainstream period for the product past five years, Extended support continues at least two years after the second successor ships, even if that makes Extended support longer than five years.

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