MICROSOFT SUPPORT LIFECYCLE BLOG : Service Pack Support Policy

Windows Server 2008 ships with SP1? Whatever happened to Windows Server 2008 RTM?! All this and more explained!

David Carrington — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:52:00 GMT

The Microsoft Support Lifecycle team receives a lot of feedback from customers, particularly regarding “intriguing” topics. We’ll call this one the case of the missing Windows Server service pack release.

So what happened? Windows Server 2008 shipped on May 6, 2008 to great fanfare and well-deserved acclaim as one of the best Windows Server releases ever. However, people soon noticed in the Help, About box of Windows Explorer that Service Pack 1 (SP1) was already installed – which was odd as nobody remembered deliberately installing SP1. With the release of SP2 for Windows Server 2008, many customers had questions about the missing service pack level (ie, the RTM release) and how long it would be supported!

Was this a mistake of some kind? A marketer gone wild? The answer is a gripping tale of ship dates slipped, codebases shared and a good bit of making things fit.

Windows server and client releases have shared a common codebase since late 2001. This change simplified servicing and allowed code development methodologies that resulted in more secure and better tested Windows releases. So far, so good.

But what does a developer do when Windows Vista SP1 is being built out and Windows Server 2008 is built on the same codebase? The answer is simple: for clarity, one carries on using the Vista SP1 codebase and names the Windows Server 2008 initial RTM release SP1. This way, the naming internally remains the same and confusion is avoided. When maintaining the Windows code trees, fixes for Windows Vista SP1 are also developed for Windows Server 2008 SP1. The same story is true of the recently released SP2 for both server and client platforms.

And so our thrilling tale ends -- but not without us first telling you when support for Windows Server 2008 (RTM with SP1 installed) retires: July 12, 2011. Please update your Windows Server 2008 installation to a supported service pack before that date to ensure continued support from Microsoft. Remember, both Mainstream and Extended Support are available only at a supported service pack level.

Thanks for your continued questions and comments. More information on Microsoft’s support policies can also be found on the Microsoft Support Lifecycle website.

*This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.*

Announcing Longer Support Timelines for Key Microsoft Dynamics Service Packs

Jared Proudfoot — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:35:00 GMT

As you may have seen, Microsoft recently announced an update to the service pack policy for Dynamics products. In today's post, I want to provide a brief overview of this announcement and recap the Service Pack Support Policy within the Microsoft Support Lifecycle.

You may recall from a previous posting that when a new service pack is released, Microsoft will provide either 12 or 24 months of support for the previous service pack, varying by product family. This means that when we release a new service pack we will start the end of support clock for the previous service pack. For example, when we release Service Pack 2, support for Service Pack 1 would end either 12 or 24 months later. Until recently, Dynamics products have been providing 12 months of support for the previous service pack when they released a new service pack version.

The recent announcement extends the service pack support policy for Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics AX, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM to 24 months of support for a previous service pack, when a new service pack is released. This update applies to all the service packs that are currently supported (as of June 8, 2009), for the above-listed Microsoft Dynamics products. Additionally, per the new policy, support will also be reactivated for select service packs for which support has expired under the previous 12-month policy, but for which support would have continued under the new 24-month policy. For example, Dynamics AX 4.0 Service Pack 1 was previously schedued to end support on October 14, 2008. Under the revised policy, we have provided an additional 12 months of support (for a total of 24 months). This means that Dynamics AX 4.0 Service Pack 1 now ends on October 13, 2009.

A complete list of the impacted products and their associated dates can be found within the announcement. In addition, the Support Lifecycle dates for each product have also been updated on the Support Lifecycle website. You can see all of the Dynamics products by going to the specific Product Family page for Business Solutions.

This update has no impact on the Mainstream Support and Extended Support dates for these products. Mainstream Support for these products will continue, as per the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy, for five years from the date of general availability of the products, and Extended Support for another five years after the end of Mainstream Support. Both Mainstream Support and Extended Support are available ONLY at the product’s supported service pack level.

I hope this helps clarify the announcement. Please keep the questions and comments coming! We appreciate your feedback and are always looking for ideas for future blog postings.

*This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.*

Support Transitions for Office 2000 and Office 2003 SP2

Jared Proudfoot — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:54:00 GMT

It's time for another friendly product transition reminder... This time, we are going to focus on Office 2000 and Office 2003 SP2.

All editions of Office 2000 will reach the end of the Extended Support phase on July 14, 2009. After this date, Office 2000 will no longer be publicly supported. This means that Microsoft will no longer provide any assisted support and will no longer provide security updates for this product. Self-Help Online Support (including the knowledge base and other articles on http://support.microsoft.com/) will continue to be available for a minimum of 12 months after this date. This means that there is very little time remaining to complete your migration to a newer version of Office! If you haven't already done so, I would recommend discussing your options with your local Microsoft representative.

In addition, I also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that support for Office 2003 SP2 ended on October 14, 2008. To continue to receive support for Office 2003 (including future security updates), you will need to upgrade to a supported service pack. Office 2003 SP3 is currently available from the Download Center and Microsoft Update websites. Unfortunately, we still occasionally recieve questions about the Service Pack Support Policy. Please be sure to keep updated on Microsoft service packs, to remain supported!

Each of these product transitions have previously been announced on the Support Lifecycle website and within our quarterly newsletter. Be sure to check the site for updates or subscribe to the newsletter, today!

*This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.*

What’s up with Service Pack support?

Jared Proudfoot — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:51:00 GMT

The Service Pack Support policy is sometimes misunderstood by our customers. As I mentioned on some of the previous postings, support in the Mainstream Support and Extended Support phases is only provided at the supported service pack level. This means that you must be running a supported service pack to continue to receive security updates or be eligible for any of our other support options (such as Premier, Pro or Pay Per Incident cases).

When a new service pack is released, Microsoft will provide either 12 or 24 months of support for the previous service pack, varying by product family. We no longer make the decision of 12 or 24 months of support for each individual service pack release. Instead, this decision is made at the product family level (for example, Windows, Office, Servers, or Developer tools) and will be consistent across a product’s service pack releases.

Of course, when support for a product ends, support for the product’s service packs will also end. The product’s Support Lifecycle supersedes the Service Pack Support policy, to ensure that we don’t provide support for a service pack when the parent product is no longer supported.

Let’s try an example... When Windows XP SP2 was released in September 2004, it started the end of support clock for Windows XP SP1. For the Windows product family, we provide 24 months of support for the previous service pack. Therefore, support for Windows XP SP1 ended 24 months following the release of SP2 -- on October 10, 2006. When Windows XP SP3 is released, it will begin the end of support clock for SP2 -- ending 24 months following the release of SP3.

Here's another example, this time using Office 2003. When Office 2003 SP3 was released in September 2007, it started the end of support clock for Office 2003 SP2. Since the Office family provides 12 months of support for the previous service pack, support for Office 2003 SP2 will end on October 14, 2008. Support for Office 2003 SP3 will continue until 12 months following the release of SP4 or support for the product ends.

You may notice that we don't end support for products or service packs on the same date they were released. Instead, we round the end dates to the second Tuesday after the end of the quarter. We'll discuss this in a future posting.

In the meantime, please tell us what you think! Does this better explain the Service Pack Support policy? What can we do better to explain this on our main site?

*This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.*