Microsoft Extends NT Server Support

Microsoft initially planned to pull the plug on NT technical support at the end of this year, but the company recently changed the deadline to Dec. 31, 2004. Industry observers said the move stemmed from delays with Windows Server 2003, which originally was slated to ship in late 2001 but is now due out April 24.

Under the extension, Microsoft plans to offer pay-per-incident support and premium support on the NT Server 4.0 network operating system until the end of next year. "Originally, the support plans last fall on NT 4.0 indicated that from January 2004 to 2005, people could not get pay-per-incident support or custom hot-fix support," said Bob O'Brien, a Windows Server product manager at Microsoft. "But a lot of customers doing migrations said [they] might be done by then but will still need support coverage for NT. So we'll keep it on until January 2005."

Between 40 percent and 50 percent of the Windows Server installed base is now running NT 4.0, O'Brien said. But research firm Garter estimated that up to 70 percent is running NT 4.0, with the rest running Windows 2000 Server.

"This [support extension] is needed, and Microsoft recognized that," said Todd Barrett, president of CPU Sales & Service, a Waltham, Mass.-based solution provider. "There are a lot of customers who are not going to upgrade their NOS unless they have to or until the money and resources allow them to.

"It's a goodwill gesture for everyone on NT," Barrett said. "I just walked out of a potential customer,an ASP/Web hosting company that had 85 NT Servers, not Windows 2000. They don't have the money or the resources to upgrade, and their existing application on NT 4.0 is rock-solid."

Harry Zoberman, senior vice president of marketing and operations at ASAP Software, Buffalo Grove, Ill., said NT users will have to upgrade soon, regardless of the support extension. "Most .Net Enterprise Servers list Windows 2000 Server as a system requirement. So [NT] support or no support, upgrades happen."