February 2007 / February 2007 - The State of Support Microsoft Software

The release of Vista for businesses in November of last year and for home users this week marks the first release of a new Microsoft operating system in almost 5 years. In the past Microsoft would release a new version of Windows on average every 2-3 years, but this time around the software giant decided to devote more time to enhancing Vista’s security and new features. While companies running XP on their network have time to evaluate Vista before deciding when to switch, those businesses that are sill running on legacy systems are facing a time crunch and may lose support of their current software.

In this month’s Tech Brief we’ll discuss the state of supported Microsoft software and how it will affect your business. We’ll also look at how the change in Daylight Saving Time this year may leave your network in the dark.

The State of Supported Microsoft Software

Microsoft has moved to supporting only its latest and one previous generation OS and Office packages in their product support plan. Their support policy offers a minimum of 10 years of support for business products, broken down into a mainstream phase and a pricey extended support phase. Mainstream support is provided for 5 years after the product’s release, or 2 years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer. Extended support is provided for 5 years after the end of mainstream support, or for 2 years after the second successor product is released, whichever is longer.

This means if you’re running an OS and Office suite older than Windows XP and Office 2K3, you will no longer be supported unless you have purchased an extended support plan. Mainstream support for Windows 2000 ended in 2005, and extended support will end in 2010. Microsoft ended its mainstream support of Office 2000 in 2004, and extended support is scheduled to stop in 2009. This means it’s the end of days for Windows and Office 2000, and if you have systems older than that you’re even of luck. For businesses on these legacy systems, now is the time to plan and implement an IT upgrade.

For a comprehensive support breakdown of Microsoft’s products, please visit: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect

Important Daylight Saving Time Information

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 states that starting in 2007, Daylight Saving Time will begin nearly month earlier and end one week later than normal. This change has a significant impact on your IT; and if left unattended to, can cause widespread problems on your network. Interruptions to calendaring and billing applications, security programs, and travel and trading schedules are just a handful of the problems that could occur.

The impact that this change in the start and end of DST will have on your business will depend largely upon where you stand with regards to the operating systems versions, email system, and databases you are running on your network. In the case of Microsoft products you must apply patches to correct for this change to DST to your OS and Back Office products (such as Microsoft Exchange and SQL server). How you obtain those patches varies by where you stand against Microsoft’s product lifecycle.