Microsoft To Drop Several Products

The retired software uses the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, which the vendor must discontinue using as part of its settlement with Sun Microsystems.

However, Microsoft said it will offer technical support on the JVM until next September.

Microsoft stopped no-charge support for Windows 98 earlier this year and announced in June it would eliminate all support for Windows 98 as of Jan. 16.

Microsoft's efforts to comply with the Sun settlement,and end-of-life support policies,will benefit the Redmond, Wash.-based vendor's upgrade business and its channel, especially the SMB segment, which is the slowest to upgrade, partners said.

"As support ends, people will have to look at the cost of getting it fixed vs. buying it new. Clearly, the economics are better to buy new," said CDW Chairman and CEO John Edwardson. He pointed out that customers wanting to upgrade their Microsoft software also will have to buy new PCs because older systems won't run Windows XP.

"Very few corporate networks have a Win 98 client, so we think the impact from this will be minimal," said Ken Winell, president of Econium, a Microsoft solution provider in Totowa, N.J. "We do believe Office 2000 has a fairly large installed base, and many companies that did not upgrade to Office XP or Office 2003 may feel rushed to implement something before the support is pulled. This could be a windfall for partners," he said.

Added Dino Farfante, president of Insight Direct Worldwide, a Tempe, Ariz., division of Insight Enterprises: "Customers aren't deploying the newer products as fast as Microsoft would like. [This] will push people to implement the new software. I believe it will drive upgrades."

Tony Goodhew, a product manager in Microsoft's developer division, said the company will re-release select products without the JVM, including Small Business Server 2000, Office XP Professional with FrontPage and Windows NT 4.0.

As many as 60 percent of Microsoft's customers have purchased Enterprise, Select and Open 6.0 contracts that include technical support and upgrade rights. While mainstream support is promised for many products on the list, some fear that support levels will diminish once the products vanish from the sales channel.

"Some of our SMB customers continue to rely on legacy Microsoft products, such as Office 2000, and the lack of support being available for legacy products is an issue," said Anthony Harbour, president and CEO of Harbour and Associates, Glen Ellen, Va. "Budgetary and staffing concerns often make it difficult to upgrade products every year. At least Microsoft is [giving] the timeline for providing product support for legacy products, which provides a push for upgrading," he said.

Microsoft claims most Office 2000 versions will be supported until mid-2005.

Microsoft's end-of-life policy, along with Licensing 6.0 deals and recent security scares, have done more to spur upgrade activity than the Java issue, partners say.

"The migration involved to get off the [older] platform is picking up speed," said Ed Coleman, CEO of CompuCom, a Microsoft Gold service partner based in Dallas.

"Most customers are putting in newer versions as they acquire hardware or make licensing purchases, but they are still keeping the older versions on existing hardware," said Michael Cocanower, president of solution provider ITSynergy, Phoenix.

"As long as those older products are supported, they won't care if they can't get a new CD of one of the older products."

Ironically, Sun's legal win over Microsoft may prove to be a pyrrhic victory.

"Most of the products that are being retired are several years old, and we do our best to keep our clients more up-to-date than that," said Andrew Brust, president of Progressive Systems, New York. "If this is a legal win for Sun, then it would seem the taste of victory is more bitter than sweet."

Scott Campbell, Jeff O'Heir & Steven Burke contributed to this story.