Microsoft product lifecycle

Microsoft offers two phases of support for its on-premise products. Mainstream support begins with the release of the product and usually lasts the first five years after the release of the product. During this period, the product is provided with updates, service packages and builds, fixes to increase the security and reliability of the product, eliminate vulnerabilities, and troubleshoot problems. After the end of the main support, extended support follows, which usually also lasts five years. During this period, Microsoft continues to provide security and reliability updates and bug fixes.

However, older products, such as Windows XP, which have already expired for an extended period of support, remain quite popular. The reasons are various, for example, if a company or educational institution has purchased specific hardware (for measurement or industrial production) with a lifespan of 20 to 50 years, on which Windows XP is installed as an operating system. Thus, although the support period for this OS is over, the hardware remains functional and it is not worthwhile for its owner to change it, even though it no longer receives new updates.

On the other hand, users of the on-premise solution have recently been under artificial pressure to move to SaaS licensing with regular payments. These "artificial" disadvantages of local solutions are manifested mainly by shortening the life cycle of software products such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint or Office Suite. This can be seen in the example of the difference between Office 2016 and Office 2019, when both versions, where release dates are 3 years apart, are scheduled to end of extended support to 14. 10. 2025.

Because extended support historically was prolonged in case of several software products, it is better not to take above mentioned information as final. On the other hand, purchasing an older, fully supported version is even more cost-effective than a new license. By choosing a used software license, for example, you can save another 30 % of the acquisition price of a Microsoft Office product.