Dear valued Clients and Associates,
This Article is to
let you know about key changes to the support policies of several
major software companies. They are discontinuing support, updates
and patches for certain versions of their software. The purpose of
this letter is to inform you now about which packages will no
longer be supported by what manufacturers.
MICROSOFT
-------------------
Date
Support
Program
Ends Most Current Version
--------------------------------
------------------ ------------------------------
Windows 98 1/16/04 Windows XP
Windows 95
12/31/01 Windows XP
Windows Millennium 12/31/04
Windows XP
Office 97
1/16/04 Office XP**
Office 2000
6/30/06 Office XP**
Access 2000
6/30/06 Access 2002**
Windows SBS 4.0 12/31/04 Windows SBS 2000***
Windows SBS 4.5 12/31/04 Windows SBS 2000***
Windows NT 4.0 Server 12/31/04 Windows
2003
Windows NT Workstation 6/30/03
Windows XP
Exchange 5.5
12/31/05
Exchange 2000*
Microsoft software is unique in that
over 90% of the desktop computers are using some form of Windows.
The main issue most companies face as owners of Microsoft products
is that critical weaknesses are frequently being discovered and
exploited in some versions of Windows and Office. These weaknesses
have left computers open to viruses, worms, trojans and remote
hackers, if these weaknesses had not been patched with
Microsoft-supplied updates. When support ends for these products,
critical patches will no longer be provided by Microsoft, leaving
these products vulnerable to future attacks.
If you own a Microsoft product that
is not current and not noted here, it is discontinued, unsupported
and will not have any patches or updates issued for it.
* Exchange 2003 is scheduled for
release in October 2003
** Office 2003 is scheduled for
release in October 2003
*** Windows SBS 2003 is scheduled for
release in October 2003
It is our recommendation that you
account for the costs and scheduling of upgrades of software in your
planning and budgeting this year and next, prior to the loss of
support to avoid use of products that are not vendor-supported.
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