History of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy

History of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy
I wanted to start off the blog with a posting about the history of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. We often get questions about the history of the policy, how it came about and how long it’s actually been in place.

Prior to 2002, Microsoft did not have a centralized team or set of policies to govern the length of support provided for each product or the level of service provided throughout a product’s supported life. Instead, each of the product groups (PGs) was independently responsible for defining the length and terms of support for their individual products. The PGs managed their own support groups, published information regarding their support policies and communicated directly with the customers regarding the supportability of their products.

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While this allowed the PGs significant flexibility to support their products according to their business needs, the situation was not ideal for Microsoft customers. Customers often complained that it was difficult to understand how long products were supported and that there was little consistency in the support levels, communication approaches and support availability between PGs. The approach to these policies often differed between the PGs and sometimes even differed between products within the same PG. In addition, these inconsistencies made it difficult for customers to plan their information technology IT upgrade cycles and future product purchases.

By the beginning of 2001 the majority of the PGs had committed to providing support for both the current version and the previous version of their product. Unfortunately, the length of support and services provided still differed between most products. In addition, there were inconsistent requirements for the application of product service packs. Some PGs always required a products current service pack to be applied, while other PGs had a more liberal policy regarding service pack support.

As a result of continued customer feedback, Microsoft Services chartered a team with the responsibility of creating a unified set of support policies that could be applied all Microsoft products. The goal was to create a comprehensive support policy that customers could easily understand, reference and plan for. As a result, in October 2002 Microsoft unveiled the first version of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle. This original version of the policy provided 5 years of Mainstream Support for Consumer products and 5 years of Mainstream Support and 2 years of Extended Support for Business & Developer products.

In 2004, Microsoft announced a major revision to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle. Among the changes announced were expanded lengths of support for Microsoft’s Business & Developer products, clarifications on some of the existing policies, and additional support options for customers who needed support for products that were no longer publicly supported. While there have been some clarifications and minor changes over the years, this is still the same policy that we use today.

Next time, I’d like to get into more details about some of the specific policies and perhaps clear-up some common confusion and misconceptions. In the meantime, please feel free to ask any questions or leave ideas for future postings.