March, 2009

The last Microsoft Office 2003 product was released nearly 5 years ago. Per the Microsoft Support Lifecycle, the Mainstream Support phase runs for 5 years after the release of a product. In accordance with this policy, Office 2003 will leave the Mainstream Support phase on April 14th, 2009. The Extended Support phase will continue for an additional 5 years, through April 8^th, 2014. During the Extended Support phase, Office 2003 will continue to receive security updates and paid support will continue to be available. Non-security hotfixes will be available only with purchase of an Extended Hotfix Support Agreement. For full details of the differences between the Mainstream and Extended Support phases, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle website.

The ability of the Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter to protect its users against junk email, including malicious phishing emails, is dependent on the installation of regular updates. Because these updates are necessary for this feature to remain functional, the Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter will continue to receive updates with new junk email definitions through the end of the Extended Support phase.