Microsoft Software End of Support
This year and next see the end of support for several important Microsoft software lifecycles. They have had five years of feature development and security updates and five years of extended security updates and patches. For several product sets, the end of support time, or end of life deadline, has now come and organisations should be exploring their software options and preparing to upgrade or find replacements.
Key dates
| EOS product | EOS date | Replacement | Pick your service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| User | Office 2010 | 13 October 2020 | Office 2019 or Office 365 | FastTrack Ready Service |
| Operating System | Windows 7 | 14 January 2020 | Windows 10 | Windows 10 Updgrade Readiness Assessment |
| Database | SQL 2008 | 9 July 2019 | SQL Server 2017 or SQL on Azure | SQL Migration Assessment |
| Server | Windows Server 2008 | 14 January 2020 | Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server on Azure | Windows Server Migration Assessment |
Trustmarque guide to End of Support
This guide presents the products that are going End of Support (EOS), your options for upgrades and how you can get the most from your investments, including:
- Office 2010
- Windows 7
- SQL 2008
- Windows Server 2008
Software upgrades
Over the past five years, cloud computing technology has become more accessible and affordable giving rise to various options when it comes to upgrading. Many organisations are moving to subscription based technologies, as they offer greater flexibility, run on an on-going cost basis combined with continued security and regular feature updates. These technologies are known as “evergreen” as there are no End Of Service (EOS) dates.
The option to purchase the latest ‘out of a box’ software versions through a traditional CAPEX, one-off payment, still exists. However, more modern subscription based models are becoming increasingly popular, not only due to product functionality, but also as Microsoft offers incentives through discounted packages and deployment funding.
Purchasing licenses to downgrade is not an option for EOS software as new patches and security updates will not be developed.
What if you do nothing?
When your software goes out of support, it won’t stop working, but the main and immediate risk is that there will be no more security updates or patches, leaving your organisation vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
For all Microsoft products, once the extended support lifecycle reaches 10 years, there will no longer be any:
- Technical support for any on-going issues
- Bug fixes for any new issues
- Security fixes for undiscovered vulnerabilities
Additionally, users can begin to experience functionality problems due to incompatibility with newer software or systems, and the number of tickets raised will increase the workload of the wider IT team.
End of Support Timeline
Free Customer Workshops
About Trustmarque
Trustmarque and Microsoft have a 30-year relationship which has seen us grow into one of their most trusted partners and today we hold multiple gold and silver accreditations. We continually strive to successfully deliver the right IT products and solutions to meet our NHS, Public Sector and corporate customers’ needs.
Our in-house teams of qualified Microsoft experts have specialisms across the many different areas of the Microsoft world: from access to new software and the latest licensing updates; expert delivery architects and engineers to specialist technical support and services programmes.
Trustmarque’s cloud team has a wide and complementary range of skills and experience. Drawn from both the public and private sectors, our team has varied backgrounds including development and infrastructure, solution architects and BI and Analytics specialists. We draw on their expertise, skills and capability to transform organisations into the cloud and deliver better outcomes.
Trustmarque Services to support your EOS upgrades
FastTrack Ready Service
Windows 10 URA
SQL Migration Assessment
Windows Server Migration Assessment
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