Posted: May 31, 2004

Major changes to Microsoft’s product life cycle announced recently include the following changes for business products:

Security support. Microsoft will provide free security updates for a minimum of 10 years after product release.

Extended support lengthened. The Extended support phase, which applies only to business products, has been lengthened from two years to five years, or for two years after the second successor product ships, whichever is longer.

Windows Update support modified. Security updates will be available via Windows Update through the first two years of the Extended support period; after that time some security updates and other fixes may be posted to the Windows Download Center.

Service pack support extended. Some service packs (SPs) will now be supported for 24 months after the release of the following SP (up from 12 months previously). For example, Microsoft has announced that it will support Windows XP SP1 for 24 months past the release of Windows XP SP2.

Mainstream support extended in some cases. Mainstream support, which normally expires after five years, will be available for five years or for two years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer.