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MS support life cycle

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by kevin fitzgerald

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We had five MS Server 2,000 systems built by a Microsoft Gold partner in March 2002 with service pack 2 installed. My understanding of the new life cycle policy is that Microsoft will not cover these systems after 6 January 2003 unless we install service pack 3. I would not critisise the gold partner for not installing an unproven service pack on a mission critical system. I do take umbridge at the gall of microsoft if they think they will get away with only overing 9 months support to our systems. In short not all companies are keen to install newly launched Microsoft products or services packs on mission critical systems. Is the penalty for wisely waiting to see if the product is stable a reduced support life cycle? If the manufacturer of a HI FI system limited it's gaurantee period to 1 year after the product left the factory gates would we think that was good news?

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by kkrishnan2

I fully endorse the above statement. MS policy of support is nighmarish.

I am very sure that support for XP (after i dont know how many SP release, will be terminated, since they will be launching another OS).

by timwalsh

Start by looking at the following webpage

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;lifecycle

(remove any spaces in the URL)

This gist of the policy is that Microsoft will provide Mainstream support for 5 yrs following the general availability date of a given piece of software and Online support for 8+ years from the same date.
Service packs are supported for up to 12 months after the release of a newer Service pack. If no newer service pack is released, the 5 yr/8 yr clock restarts from the release of the service pack.

Read the policy for yourself and don't rely on hearsay.

BTW, I never heard this amount of whining when Novell, Adobe and numerous other software vendors instituted similar policies, severalyears ago.

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