Product Life-Cycle Phases and Options

Support for business and development software is retired in a series of phases. The phases described below apply to all of the products discussed in this report.

Microsoft also offers business customers the option to enter into a custom support program that provides support for legacy products during a product migration. Custom support can be granted to customers who require support for longer than the 10-year minimum provided by Mainstream and Extended support, but it is only in effect while migrating to newer versions and requires that the customer have a Premier support agreement.

Life-Cycle Phases and Options	Normal Duration	Product Support Options	Software Updates
Mainstream Support Phase	Five years from the date of general availability or two years after the release of a successor version, whichever is greater	• Free incident support (per warranty) • Online support information • Fee-based support options (Professional support, Essential support, Premier