Support changes coming for Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003
2009 September 18 – 2:36 pmEarlier this week there was an anouncment made in a Microsoft Technet blog from the Windows Server Division. The post is about the support lifecycle changes for Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003, planned for next year.
The key points made in this post are as follows:
- Extended Support for Windows 2000 Server will end on July 13, 2010
- Also on July 13, 2010, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will move from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase.
- There will be no further Service Packs for Windows Server 2003
As you can probably guess this essentialy means Microsoft are scaling back the support available for both of the products, no surprise really as they have newer operating systems on the market (Windows Server 2008 is now available).
Windows Server 2000 will no longer be publicly supported, the only help available after the cut off will be Self-Help Online Support (Knowledge Base articles, FAQs, troubleshooting tools).
Windows Server 2003 is moving to what they call Extended Support, this means that Microsoft support is only available if paid for, either by buying a support contract or on a per-incident basis. During Extended Support security updates will continue to be released publicly however hotfixes will only be available to customers who have a Premier support contract.
We at Glo Networks see this as one more reason to move away from these older operating systems, our advise to any who may still be using either OS is to seriously consider upgrading before July 2010. If you would like any further information and/or advise please do not hesitate to contact us.
Should you be interested the original post can be found here :
