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Microsoft Extends Windows NT 4 Server Support

Microsoft this week pushed back the support deadline for its Windows NT 4.0 Server products by a year to the end of 2004.

So-called "extended support," which includes security support and paid incident support, will be available until Dec. 31, 2004. When Microsoft unveiled its new support roadmap in October, the company had planned to retire all Windows NT 4.0 Server support on the last day of 2003.

One other change is that extended support fees have been waived for Windows NT 4.0 Server products. Under Microsoft's support policy, regular support for business and developer products is free for five years, then customers must sign a contract to buy extended support for the next two years.

Regular or "mainstream" support for Windows NT 4.0 Server ended on Dec. 31, 2002.

The policy change affects Windows NT 4.0 Server (released in July 1996), Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition (released in December 1997), and Windows NT 4.0 Server, Terminal Server (released in September 1998).

Windows NT 4.0 Server was already a special case for the new policy. By the time the support policy was announced in October, NT Server was already a year beyond the policy's deadline for the regular support phase. The extended support deadlines for the Windows NT 4.0 Server products, on the other hand, were all a year shorter than the policy called for.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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