The software maker's decision to extend support for many of its products reflects a new reality: Customers are increasingly reluctant to update major software components every few years just to keep up with Microsoft's shipment schedules.
"By (Microsoft) extending support, we don't have to upgrade our applications as rapidly. We're not on Microsoft's treadmill," said Tim Kelly, technology director at TSYS, a large credit card transaction processor in Columbus, Ga.
Microsoft said last week it will prolong support policies for all business and developer products from the current seven years to 10 years, effective Wednesday. The new policy guarantees a minimum of five years of "mainstream" support, the basic level of assistance that includes free incident support and "hot fix" patches released to remedy critical problems.
Mainstream support is extended if Microsoft allows more than five years to lapse between major product releases, so that support is offered for at least two years after a next-generation product is released. Thus, Windows XP would be supported for two years after its successor, Longhorn, is released.
Once the mainstream support phase concludes, Microsoft will provide another five years of "extended" support, a reduced level that includes options for paid hot fixes and hourly support services.
The support extension also mirrors the rising expectations among customers that Microsoft should stand by older products still in wide use. Microsoft reversed itself earlier this year on a widely criticized plan to end support for the Windows 98 operating system, which many businesses continue to use.
The software giant has faced similar complaints from customers running Windows NT 4.0, which is still in wide use, particularly among businesses in Europe.
"It's definitely a reflection of the fact some people can't move that quickly on new software, and some enterprises want to standardize on an operating system and skip (operating-system editions) every once in a while," said Mike Silver, an analyst at research firm Gartner.
Microsoft said it recognizes the problem. "Seven years, we find, is on the short side as people try to run their systems longer and longer," said Peter Houston, senior director of servicing strategy for Microsoft's Windows sustained engineering division. "Ten years is actually a much better life cycle in terms of how customers are using products today."
The extended support plan comes as a reassurance to Christian LaForte, director of research and development with Dakis, a software maker based in Montreal. The company, which makes software to help Web customers make buying decisions, chose to buy Microsoft's SQL Server database over the open-source MySQL database several months ago.
"This just confirms that we made the right decision. We chose SQL Server because we were pleased with Microsoft's service and support (for Windows). We are a small software company...and we don't want to do support ourselves," LaForte said.
What's new:
Microsoft is facing up to a new world order, one in which users don't order new versions of software as fast as the company releases them.
Bottom line:
Microsoft's decision to extend support for its software reflects its shift to bigger, less frequent updates. It also takes into account the longer corporate life cycle of IT products.
