Support phases:
Support for Microsoft products is divided into 3 phases.

Fig. 01

General:
Microsoft provides support for security updates for at least 10 years for business and developer products (not valid for XP Home, for example, for which support is provided for only 5 years).

In the Mainstream Support Phase and in the first two years of the Extended Support Phase security updates are provided via "Microsoft Updates".

In the last three years of the Extended Support Phase, very important or critical security updates are published on the Microsoft Download Center website.

Support for service packs ends either 12 months after release of the next service pack or at the end of support for the basic product, whichever is first the case.

1. Mainstream Support Phase (for all products)
Microsoft provides a Mainstream Support Phase of at least 5 years from the time the product becomes generally available.

Security Update Support:

• General Hotfixes
• Free Incident Support
• Billable Support by Telephone or Internet
• Support Services on Hourly Basis
• Support for Warranty Claims

• Security-related hotfix support provided free of charge.
• All billable support options.
• The general hotfix support requires a separate contract.
• During the Extended Support Phase, Microsoft does not accept any requests for warranty support, changes to the design or new features.

3. Self Help Online Support (for all products)
The Online Support is available for at least 10 years as of release of the product. Online Support provides customers the opportunity of finding solutions to their technical problems themselves round the clock and free of charge via the Knowledge Base, FAQs and News Groups.

• Accompanying support upon release of the product.

Further Information:
The following links provide you with the latest information on the Microsoft home page:

• Information about product life cycle:
  http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/
• Product life cycle search:
• http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/
• Table showing life cycle of service packs:
  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=lifesupsps
• The latest Security Patches:
  http://support.microsoft.com/sp

Microsoft products and availability (as at 05.08.2009)
Subject to change at any time by Microsoft.
 

Product	Available until (end of the Extended Support Phase)
Windows NT	Support for NT 4 SP6 server and workstation has been discontinued. Security-related updates are therefore no longer available. Updates for SP3, SP4, SP5 and SP6a are no longer available.
Windows 2000 Server and Professional	Support for Windows 2000 Server and Professional is available until at least 13.07.2010. Updates for SP1, SP2 and SP3 are no longer available. Support for SP4 is available until further notice.
Windows Server 2003	Support for Windows 2003 Server is available until at least 30.06.2013. Updates for SP1 are no longer available. Support for SP2 is available until further notice.
Windows XP Professional	Support for Windows XP Professional is available until at least 31.12.2011. Updates for SP1 (32-bit) are no longer available. Support for SP2 (32-bit) has been discontinued. Support for SP3 (32-bit) is available until 30.08.2015.
Internet Explorer V6.0	Support for the Internet Explorer earlier than version V6.0 SP1 has been discontinued. Support for V6.0 SP1 for Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows Server 2003 has been discontinued. Support for V6.0 SP1 for Windows 2000 is available until further notice. Support for V6.0 SP1 for Windows XP Professional SP3 is available until further notice.
Internet Explorer V7.0	Support for V7.0 for Windows XP Prof. SP2 has been discontinued. Support for V7.0 for Windows XP Prof. SP3 is available until further notice. Support for V7.0 for Windows Server 2003 SP1 is available until further notice.
SQL Server 2000	Support for MS SQL Server 2000 is available until 09.04.2013. Support for MS SQL Server 2000 SP1-SP2 has been discontinued. Support for MS SQL Server 2000 SP4 is available until further notice.
SQL Server 2005	Support for MS SQL Server 2005 is available until 12.04.2016. Support for MS SQL Server 2005 (no SP) and SP1 has been discontinued. Support for MS SQL Server 2005 SP2 is available until 12.01.2010. Support for MS SQL Server 2005 SP3 is available until further notice.

Further information:

• The compatibility of SIMATIC PCS 7 and the Microsoft Windows operating systems and the Internet Explorer is given in Entry ID: 2334224.
• Install only those Service Packs that are on the CD/DVD. For further details, go to Entry ID: 19142000.
• What you should watch out for when implementing Microsoft Security Patches in SIMATIC PCS 7 is described in Entry ID: 18490004.