Microsoft Extends Windows NT Server Support

Under the move, Microsoft plans to offer pay-per-incident support and premium support on the NT 4.0 server until the end of next year, according to company executives. The software vendor began briefing customers about the decision earlier this month.

"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 we might be done by then but will still need support coverage for NT. So we'll keep it on until January 2005."

Research firm Gartner on Tuesday had issued a report about Microsoft's decision to extend NT support, explaining that the software company made the move to smooth the migration process to the upcoming Windows Server 2003, which has experienced delays. Formerly known as Windows.Net server, Windows Server 2003 is slated to be launched April 24 in San Francisco. The product originally was expected to ship in late 2001 or 2002.

"With Windows Server 2003 further delayed, enterprises would have to migrate to an older release such as Windows 2000 or move to the new Windows Server 2003 less than eight months after its delivery," Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman said, adding that he wouldn't advise customers to go to Windows 2000 because support on that three-year-old operating system ends in March 2007.

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The Gartner report recommended that enterprises press Microsoft to prolong the extended phase for NT Server 4.0 until at least mid-2004. "Microsoft has done better than that, extending the paid support life a full year," the report said.

Microsoft's "carrot-and-stick" approach of forcing customers to migrate by ending support didn't fare well, Bittman said. "The stick was not working," he said. "This will give Microsoft and its partners more time to win the hearts and minds of the people."

Bittman added that Microsoft is under pressure to keep customers and partners happy in the face of gripes over its Licensing 6.0 program as well as rising competition from Linux.

Microsoft's decision to extend the support deadline will benefit customers and their resellers, said Alan Weinberger, chairman of the ASCII Group, a Washington-based channel organization that represents more than 2,000 solution providers. "It's the right thing to do," said Weinberger. "It's good for end users, who are too time-pressed to migrate to Windows Server 2003. Microsoft had to do it."

Gartner projected that between 60 percent and 70 percent of the installed Windows server base is running NT 4.0. Microsoft estimated that 50 percent of its installed Windows server base is running NT 4.0, with the other 50 percent running Windows 2000. Microsoft executives said they have been listening to customer feedback since publishing product life-cycle dates last October.

The Gartner report also noted that enterprises need to be keenly focused on the planned expiration dates of Microsoft's support contract so they can plan their future migrations accordingly. "Enterprises should plan to complete the migration for all mission-critical servers by year-end 2004 and should strongly consider Windows Server 2003 as the target release, with support for Windows 2000 slated to end March 31, 2007," the report said.