Support Life Cycle Phases

Microsoft divides a product’s support life cycle into three phases: Mainstream, Extended, and Online Self-Help. During the Mainstream phase, which generally lasts for five years after product release, Microsoft offers the broadest set of product support options and distribution channels, as well as the most extensive software update policy (for patches and updates, update rollups, and service packs). In subsequent phases—Extended (which typically lasts for five years beyond the end of the Mainstream phase) and Online Self-Help (which lasts for at least one year beyond the end of Extended support)—distribution channels, product support options, and software update policy become more restrictive.

This chart summarizes the three phases as they apply to business and development software, which includes desktop OSs such as Windows, desktop business applications such as Office, server OSs such as Windows Server, server-based applications such as SQL Server and Exchange, and development tools such as Visual Studio. However, Microsoft’s decision not to issue a free security patch to Windows 2000 when that product was still in Extended support underscores the fact that these support phases are defined by guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules.