As it is doing on the client side of the house, with warnings about the scheduled support phase-out for Windows XP, Microsoft officials are beginning to do the same with Windows Server.
In a September 15 blog post to the Windows Server Division Weblog, Microsoft officials provided an early warnings about
the approaching end-of-support dates for customers running Windows Server 2000 and 2003.
Microsoft provides support —
“mainstream,” followed by “extended” — for most of its business software for ten years. The main difference between mainstream and extended support is the way Microsoft treats non-security-specific hotfixes. Under mainstream support, Microsoft provides these kinds of hotfixes for free. Under extended, customers are required to pay for non-security hotfixes and must sign an extended hotfix agreement, purchased within 90 days of mainstream support ending. (Or, if customers are covered by Software Assurance, the extended hotfix agreement can be purchased at any time.)
09-17-2009
