An explanation of the Mainstream Support phase
I’d like to write a little about the Mainstream Support phase. I think Mainstream Support is probably the best understood phase, but I want to ensure that we discuss this foundational piece before getting into some of the specific policies and offerings.
For all products, the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy begins with the Mainstream Support phase. In this phase, we are able to provide all of the standard support services that Microsoft offers. For example, in-the-box support, paid incident support, design change requests, non-security hotfixes, security updates and online self-help support may all be available during the Mainstream Support phase.
Consumer products that are released annually are provided a total of 3 years of Mainstream Support. Some examples of these are Microsoft Money, Encarta, Streets & Trips, etc.
For the rest of Consumer, Hardware and Business & Developer products, the Mainstream Support phase is provided for a minimum of 5 years or 2 years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer. This means that the Mainstream Support phase may be extended to longer than 5 years, if the follow-on product release is delayed. A good example of this might be Windows XP. With the updated release date of Windows Vista, Microsoft provided additional Mainstream Support for Windows XP. Mainstream Support for Windows XP will now end approximately 2 years following the release of Windows Vista. The basic reasoning behind this policy is that we don’t want to move a product into Extended Support if there is no newer product to migrate to.
One other important thing to note is that support is only provided at a supported service pack level. We’ll discuss more about this policy in a future posting.
At the end of the Mainstream Support phase, support for Consumer products comes to an end. Business & Developer products, on the other hand, are provided a minimum of another 5 years of support in the Extended Support phase.
Next time, we’ll talk about the Extended Support phase. Please feel free to leave questions or suggestions or future postings!
*This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.*
