Life Cycle Policy Does Not Guarantee Functionality

Support life-cycle policies define how long Microsoft software and services are eligible for help desk assistance and other product support from the company, and what customers must do to qualify for that support. However, the policies offer no guarantees that a supported technology will interoperate with other Microsoft technologies that appear later. Technologies that do not properly interoperate with each other can lead to significant additional cost and lost productivity, and they can block an organization’s attempts to modernize its software infrastructure. Consequently, organizations should understand the limits of Microsoft software life-cycle policies and plan deployments and purchases accordingly.

Support Life Cycles Are Evolving

With the increasing adoption of online services and subscription-based desktop software, Microsoft has made changes to how it defines the comprehensive life cycle for its software products, separating them into those with defined end-of-support dates (fixed) and those with continuous servicing (modern).