 | ISSUE DATE FEBRUARY 2011
This quarterly newsletter brings you product support news, guidance, updates, and community resources related to Microsoft Support Lifecycle. To subscribe to this newsletter and receive it directly in your inbox, click here. If you have any questions about the information in this newsletter, please contact your Microsoft Sales Account Manager, Technical Account Manager, or Microsoft Partner. | | | NOTES FROM THE EDITOR | 
| |  I hope everyone had a good holiday season and that the New Year is treating you well! 2011 is already off to a great start for the Support Lifecycle team and we cover several important updates in this quarter's newsletter.
We recently announced the Online Services Support Lifecycle Policy for Business and Developers. We are breaking significant ground with this policy by providing our customers with specific commitments for the minimum length of support, notification service continuity, and migration for our online services. Policy details are covered in this newsletter.
In January, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and SQL Server 7.0 reached the end of support. A few months down the road, in July, both Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Office XP will reach the end of support. If you are still running any of these products, now is the time to upgrade to a newer version to ensure that you continue to receive support from Microsoft.
Finally, leading IT analyst firm Gartner published a report on November 20, 2010, by Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald, titled "Selecting from Among Microsoft's Custom Support Offerings for Out-of-Support Products." This report provides a thorough look at Microsoft's Custom Support offerings. We recommend reading this report for Gartner's analysis of Microsoft's Custom Support program. Of course, you can also contact your Microsoft account representative for more information on the program.
Thanks again for subscribing to the newsletter. If you find this information valuable, we hope that you will continue to encourage your colleagues to subscribe to the newsletter and visit our blog.
Jared Proudfoot
Director, Microsoft Support Lifecycle, Microsoft Services | | | SPOTLIGHT |
| |  Microsoft Leads the Way with Support Lifecycle Policy for Online Services for Business and Developers
In keeping with our relentless focus on providing customers and partners with predictable and consistent support, Microsoft is announcing a Support Lifecycle policy for Online Services for Business and Developers. With this new policy, the company is leading the way in the online services market, where currently few policies for support exist.
Policy Highlights
The Support Lifecycle policy for Microsoft Online Services is effective as of January 25, 2011, and is only applicable to Online Services for Business and Developers. The new policy offers three key features: - Support availability:
Microsoft Support services will be available for the duration of the customer's agreement with Microsoft for the online service. - Consistent, predictable support:
With the release of this new policy, Microsoft is introducing a new Support Lifecycle concept called disruptive change. Disruptive change refers to non-security changes that require administrator intervention, client updates, data migration, or significant user experience changes Microsoft will provide a minimum of 12 months prior notification for events which are deemed disruptive changes. - Service continuity and migration:
Microsoft will provide a minimum of 12 months prior notification before ending a Business and Developer Online Service. In addition, Microsoft will retain customer data for a minimum of 30 days to facilitate customer migrations, renewal activities, or the de-provisioning of the online service. With the Support Lifecycle Policy for Online Services for Business and Developers, our customers will be able to plan for changes and maximize their investments in our online services.
Please visit the FAQ section of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle website. If you have other specific questions, please reach out to your Microsoft account representative. | | | KEY SUPPORT TRANSITIONS |
| | Windows Vista Service Pack 1: Support Ends on July 12, 2011
We would like to remind customers that support for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) will come to an end on July 12, 2011. This transition date marks the natural progression in the support of this product, and is in accordance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. Once support ends for Windows Vista SP1, customers who have not upgraded to a support service pack will not have access to new security updates, non-security hotfixes, or the option to engage Microsoft product development resources.
For more information, please click here.
| | Microsoft Extends Mainstream Support and Extended Support for RMS Headquarters 2.0 and RMS Store Operations 2.0
Microsoft is extending the Mainstream Support and Extended Support retirement dates for Retail Management System Headquarters 2.0 and Retail Management System Store Operations 2.0. Mainstream Support will be available for both products until July 10, 2016, instead of July 10, 2012. Extended Support for both products will be extended to July 13, 2021, instead of July 11, 2017, as originally scheduled.
For more information, please click here.
| | | OFFERINGS HIGHLIGHT |
| | We Want Your Feedback! New Customer Survey on Microsoft Support Lifecycle Programs and Offerings
As part of our efforts to continually refine our policies and programs based on the needs of our customers, the Support Lifecycle team is conducting a quantitative survey focused on major aspects of the Support Lifecycle policies and offerings.
This research study seeks customer's feedback on service pack support, online services, and operational aspects of our Support Lifecycle offerings. The survey is open to our customers worldwide and available in multiple languages. We will be publishing our findings upon completion of our research.
For more information, please click Please click here to go to the survey.
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