Microsoft extends a helping hand
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft on Tuesday published for the first time how long customers are guaranteed product support. Analysts generally praised the announcement, which they also said was too long coming.
"People were starting to get worried, because the likely release dates that were starting to come out for some new products made it look like there might be some problems of people having to upgrade almost immediately to get some support," said Paul DeGroot of Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm that follows the software giant. The overhauled support policy "does provide a fair amount of predictability."
The new policy means Microsoft customers now have clear guidelines by which they can evaluate how long the software giant will support its products. As part of the new support policy, Microsoft greatly extended how long it would support some products due for retirement.