Earlier Versions Available for Download

Customers will have easier access to older but still popular software, as Microsoft makes downloads of “N-2” editions of several important products available to volume licensing customers. The change will be particularly useful for Windows XP and Office 2003 stalwarts who continue to reimage new computers with that software, pursuant to their downgrade rights.

For most products, Microsoft’s Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) offers only the latest (N) version and the previous (N-1) version of the software. In July 2010, Microsoft announced that it would give customers access to downloads for the following N-2 products:

• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003.

In Sept. 2010, the following N-2 products will also become available:

• Office 2003
• SQL Server 2005
• Exchange Server 2003.

In addition to meeting customer demand for older products, the policy reflects Microsoft’s success in shifting from a fulfillment system based on disk kits to fulfillment through downloads by default for most customers. The download center can easily host installation files for older products, but distribution of disk kits that included older software was more costly and less convenient for both Microsoft and customers, who needed to secure and track volume installation media for the products they license. In some cases, customers may not have disks for older product versions that they are entitled to use, or they may not have the latest builds (e.g., they have only disks for Windows XP SP1, which is no longer supported), and they were unable to download them from the VLSC.