Microsoft End of Life Dates - Mark Your Calendars!

With each passing year, Microsoft phases out software versions, replacing them with the new and exciting. It's kinda like death and taxes. You know they are coming, but they don't always give you the dates ahead of time. So here are some upcoming dates you might care about.

This one is fast approaching on 7/8/14 - Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 reaches the end of extended support!

Not impressed?  Okay, here's more...

• The end of sales for PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled (Windows Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate) is scheduled for October 31, 2014.  End of sales for Windows 7 Professional preinstalled has not yet been established, but Microsoft promises one year of notice so as of this writing it's safe to say mid-year 2015 at least for that.  Windows 7 also reaches the end of mainstream support on January 13, 2015, leaving it in extended support until 1/14/2020.
• Window Server 2003 reaching end of extended support on 7/14/15. This one is a biggie. Windows Server 2003 has been a workhorse for the last decade, much like Windows XP and it will be missed by many.  If you need some help, check out "It's the End of the World As You Know It... Windows Server 2003 End of Life: Infrastructure Migration" from TechEd 2014.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 has it's extended support end on 4/11/2017.  I admit, I'm not so worried about this one. I used to be hard-core about running email services in house, but now I really think it depends on the size of your company. Email is sometimes best just hosted elsewhere and if you are running Exchange 2007 getting that out of the data center in the next few years might be something to consider.

Meanwhile enjoy your long weekend and lift a drink to BizTalk 2004.
:-)