The Support lifecycles for our products are limited. An important date here for us is set for mid-July: Microsoft will be ending the support for the Client Operating Systems Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP SP2 as well as for the Server Operating Systems Windows 2000 Server entirely on 13^th July 2010. This will mean that our customers will only be able to access the online self-help in the future. From this point onwards there will be no more security updates for these products either.

In addition to these steps, we will also be changing the Support Lifecycle for Windows Server 2003: As from 13^th July this will be changing from Mainstream Support to Extended Support.

As this will have serious implications for many customers I'll  post once more again the announcement of ending support streams!!

As already stated in my previous two posts about XP SP2 and Windows 2000 I'll repeat this message either as warning and also as information for all those that still sticking on these versions and/or patch levels.

Call to action:

• Inform yourselves about these issues and about our offers, so that you can address upcoming issues!
• Sales Teams are already working hard to give affected customers the best possible support. Please contact your partners or Microsoft to avoid disadvantages by these changes.
• Migrate to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 so that you can continue working with a secure infrastructure.
• Check your latest patch level for current support status and update as necessary!

Important information about the decision to end support for the Client Operating Systems Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP SP2 as well as for the Server Operating Systems Windows 2000:

1) How will the Support Lifecycle Changes affect our customers?

• Support for Microsoft products is limited to a predefined lifecycle (Details under http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle)
  with the following phases: Mainstream Support, Extended Support and Online Self-help. The following phase changes in the respective lifecycles are due to take effect as per 13^th July 2010:
  • Change from Mainstream Support to Extended Support for:
    - Windows Server 2003

>> This is not critical for customers because we will continue to issue security updates. However there will be no further changes to the design and functionality or free of charge support.

• Change from Extended Support to Online Self-help for:
  - Windows XP SP2
  - Windows 2000 Professional
  - Windows 2000 Server

>> This is a critical change for customers, because there will be no more security updates as from 13^th July 2010. Instead customers will only have free access to the online contents such as Knowledge-Base articles etc.  It is therefore all the more important that customers now migrate in order to be able to run a secure infrastructure.
Now is the time to support your customers in migrating to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

2) Which steps has Microsoft taken to ensure that customers and partners are informed in good time?

Please find below the most important facts about the proactive steps taken by Microsoft to inform customers about the end-of-support changes since September 2009.

3) What can we offer our customers who are affected by these changes?

Please find below the most important offerings for discussions with your customers and partners about the benefits of migration and support: