Microsoft: Many customers running unsupported operating systems
Summary: As the Conficker worm continues to burrow into more Windows systems, it's become apparent that not only are many users failing to keep up with their patching, but many others are running older versions of Windows for which patches aren't available.
As the Conficker worm continues to burrow into more Windows systems, it's become apparent that not only are many users failing to keep up with their patching, but many others are running older versions of Windows for which patches aren't available.
"During Conficker we realized that a lot of customers are on unsupported OSs," blogged Roger Halbheer, Chief Security Advisor of Microsoft EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa).
"Unsupported," in this case, means unsupported by Microsoft. Microsoft continues to update and patch operating systems and other products for free for roughly five years from the time a product is first released. Then the product enters the "extended support" via which volume licensees can purchase an "extended hotfix agreement" in order to continue to get full support from Microsoft. Security fixes and patches are an exception that don't require the purchase of an extended support agreement; Microsoft continues to provide those during the extended phase for all users for free.
But once the extended support phase ends and a product is "retired," Microsoft no longer provides fixes -- even security-specific ones.
(Microsoft's lifecycle policy is actually far more complex than I'm explaining it here. The best way to try to figure out when support expires is to check Microsoft's Support Lifecycle pages.)
One Windows release for which the end-of-support date is approaching rapidly is Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), warned Halbheer.
On February 27, Halbheer blogged:
"If you look at that (the Microsoft lifecycle page), you will see that Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 will be retired on 14. April 2009. This means that this is the last time you will get Security Updates for SP1! If you did not already, please start to roll-out SP2 immediately."
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
All of these naughty people!
These unsupported OSs...
Service Packs that have been superceded (eg, XP SP1 is not supported,
while SP 2 is).
Sorry, but how long must Microsoft support them? XP SP2 is a free
upgrade, and the other OSs are a decade old.
Forever
is required to. Would you put up with this crap from Ford?
"Would you put up with this crap from Ford?"
Oh, wait...
Tu Quoque
I've never defended Apple or Red Hat or any other software company
for pulling the same crap.
The software industry is the only industry where people are
conditioned to pay money to get product flaws fixed. I've never
understood why they put up with the abusive treatment.
So, instead of saying "well everyone else in the industry does it too, so
I'll put up with it," why don't you hold MS to a higher standard?
And just as FYI, when it comes to hardware, people DON'T put up with
this crap. Apple was still fixing and replacing PowerBook 5300 laptops
years and years later.
Now, unfortunately for software manufacturers, their product doesn't
wear out over time, so even after 10 years or more, a flaw can come
and bit you in the behind. Well, too bad. That's the game you decided
to play when you went into the software market.
Of course, nothing will happen until consumers actually start pushing
back instead of just resigning themselves to it.
careful what you wish for
Until someone comes up with Assembly line coding and design specs for code, to keep people around that still remember the "old stuff" is pretty expensive, and what happens when those people retire, or "officially retire". no one is gonna want to learn old technology.
You don't see tons of people flocking to blacksmith jobs or Horse n buggy outfits, do you?
and now inverse your hypothesis
Everything needs to be fabricate cheaper and cheaper, so companies get more money and more money, the quality of the products suffer and it all turns to pulp and rubbish products, the wages go up slowly because everybody is making extreme ammounts of money, so you end up with having infinite money for an infinite supply of inferior products that breaks down after a couple of uses..
but that's all okay.. cause it's really cheap! and you are really rich! Yay! Who needs quality?
@TedKraan
crockery, disposable cutlery, disposable toothbrushes, disposable mobile
phones.
It's all disposable now, and not intended to serve you for longer than it
takes the manufacturer to receive your money.
What promises were made at the time of sale?
People running old stuff on the internet is the problem. The manufacturers are not the problem. If you are going to run the old stuff, just do not run it in an environment that will allow it to be come a vector for infecting others.
Running Windows 95 or Mandrake 2005 is just fine, just use it safely.
NOT putting up with . . .
My first Mac laptop was an used iBook. After a few months, I found out it was on the list of those eligible for new motherboards --- more than two years after it was made.
I, the second (or third) owner, just had to click on a link or two and type in my computer's serial number.
Dropped it off the next day at a local processing center (no Apple stores on the big island of Hawaii) and --- no muss, no fuss.
New mother board and I'm back in the saddle a few working days later.
Great stuff --- this integrity and *non* MS-like standing behind what you manufacture!
Class action
Try dropping said laptop off at an Apple store today and ask for a new motherboard.
Apple support their hardware for 1 year from purchase. You can opt to extend that warranty if you want to PAY FOR IT, but ONLY up to 3 years! So much for Apple's confidence in its harware ... or maybe they just want to pressure you into buying a new product once every 3 years rather than once every 5+ years?
At least with Red Hat you can replace the OS for free ... .
Actually you can download Sun Solaris 10 for free.
or better yet, if you are a Linux fan:
www.opensolaris.org
If you're not paying Red Hat for support ...
For example: (https://www.redhat.com/security/updates/errata/) Red Hat only support their major releases for 7 years in total - Minor releases are only supported for 5 years. You want that support - you have to pay for it - for the full 7 years.
Compare to Microsoft's 10 year standard support lifecycle. The first 5 years are free, the subsequent 5 years are paid-for support.
Ford
What planet do you live on?
You obviously don't realize this, but people generally don't work unless they are getting paid. If companies have to pay people to work on fixing flaws in products that were sold many years ago, that will add to the cost of their products. I would much rather pay for a new car, or a new version of Windows, rather than pay through the nose for Ford or Microsoft to have to provide free repairs for ancient products that I no longer have any use for.
Rick
Are you really a COMPLETE idiot?
When you buy a car, a TV, a washing machine, an iPod, a house, a piece of furniture, a phone, a printer, a motorcycle, a boat, or whatever, they all come with warranties. These warranties state that so long as you use said item in the manner in which it was designed to be used, the manufactuer will "support" it for a given period.
In most instances, where said product costs more than a few bucks, the manufacturer reserves the optoin to fix your item, rather than replace it.
Most products < $200 are backed with a 30-90 day warranty. After which period, you have to pay to get it fixed.
That Microsoft offers to support all of its (legally purchased) products for free for 5 YEARS is a good thing and not something to turn one's nose up at. You won't get that kind of guarantee from Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Whirlpool, Kenmore, HP, Apple (for their hardware), Samsung, ...
5 Whole Years
Sorry if I seem sarcastic, but I'm really digusted by Microsoft tight now.
I've been running XPPro 2001 with SPPack 2 for the last couple of years. I have never allowed Microbucks to dump thier so-called Hafizes,Patches and Updates into my system. Result, never had any Problem.
Of course I got Viruses a few times but that happens to everybody.
The fact remains that I've run my system all this time "WITHOUT" Microsoft's help.
I fully intend to Continue.
I shall stay with the XPPro until it no longer functions with anything. Microsoft?? Don't need them. There are a million apps freely available that do the same thing and some perhaps even better.
e.g. Explorer, how many variations are there out there right now. If you choose to use a different browser, does Microsoft support it, of course not. And so it goes.
Time for people to stand up and dictate to Microsoft, not the other way around as it is now.
Regards
Aaron
Please
Forever is a long time