A number of popular Microsoft products are approaching End of Support (EOS). That means there is no longer; access to technical support, bug and security fixes. To help you understand more we have created a detailed End of Support guide. In it, our Microsoft experts explain your options for upgrading, licensing considerations and how you can get the most from your investments. The guide looks at four major products across the IT spectrum that will affect your users, desktops, databases and servers.
Why IT matters
Running software that is no longer supported or patched creates risks if used over a prolonged period. End of Support (sometimes morbidly known as end of life) presents risks to an organisation. The most obvious is increased vulnerability to cyber-attacks but also there is the overlooked risk of additional workloads for the IT team as users may experience functionality problems due to incompatibility with newer software or systems.
As you would expect from Microsoft there are full cloud-based and on-premise versions available. Cloud has been an area of focused development for Microsoft for a number of years. The cloud versions are usually more feature rich than their on-premise relations. And for now, they are usually a more cost-effective option, especially if your organisation is already using a cloud environment. If not, then Microsoft offers a number of funding programmes, for eligible customers, to help deploy and adopt products and services in the cloud.
See more about available funding programmes here>
What and when is going end of support
Key products in chronological order:
9 July 2019
First up and fast approaching is SQL 2008 & 2008 R2. There are three options for upgrading
- SQL on Azure
- SQL 2017
- Extended support – pricing out soon but the cost is excepted to be significant as Microsoft would rather you move to SQL on Azure or SQL 2017
14 January 2020
Both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 & 2008 R2 reach their end of support lifecycle on the same date and both require planning and assessment to ensure a successful deployment.
For Windows 7 the upgrade option is simple
- Windows 7 to Windows 10
Windows Server 2008 & 2008 R2, like SQL Server, has three options
- Windows Server on Azure
- A supported version of Windows Server (i.e. 2019 or 2016)
- Extended support – pricing not yet available but it is excepted the costs will be significant as Microsoft would rather you take to another option.
13 October 2020
Last but not least, Office 2010. There are two options available:
- Office 2019 – on-premise
- Office 365 – Cloud-based
