SQL Server 2008 reaches its "end of support" date next year: 7/9/2019
But it reaches end of life much later: 7/31/2023
What is the difference?
Is this terminology common to Microsoft, or to the software industry? Or is this uncommon?
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4I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because only Microsoft can answer this question.Greg Burghardt– Greg Burghardt2018-06-12 20:27:53 +00:00Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 20:27
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1Also, voting to close as it is off topic. But, also, upvoting because interesting question :DTheCatWhisperer– TheCatWhisperer2018-06-12 21:05:32 +00:00Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 21:05
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If this were a question related to the lifecycle of some obscure product, I'd also be VTC-ing. But, given that the proper understanding of these terms probably affects >90% of business systems developers (and probably good chunk of web devs), I'm letting it slide :)svidgen– svidgen2018-06-14 14:38:27 +00:00Commented Jun 14, 2018 at 14:38
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2 Answers
End of Life == End of License
The footnote on that same page reads:
The following definitions will help you better understand MSL (Microsofot Support Lifecycle) terminology.
- Lifecycle: Starts at product release and ends upon termination of support or sales.
- End of Support: Termination date of Microsoft’s hot fixes, security patches and technical assistance
- End of the License: Date when shipping of a specific Windows Embedded version is discontinued.
And, taking Windows Server 2003, as an example, from Wikipedia, we read that:
Availability of the original version ended May 28, 2003. Availability of R2 ended March 5, 2006. End of Support is scheduled for July 14, 2015 (R2 and original), and End of Licence is scheduled for May 28, 2018 (R2 and original).[30] The end of support date indicates that the supported service pack was dated July 14, 2005. The End of Licence date is the last date that OEM's may distribute systems using this version. All versions continue to receive Critical security updates until the end of support:[31] Microsoft has not announced extended support dates for Windows Server 2003 for Embedded Systems.
(Emphasis mine.)
Those dates align with the EOS and EOL dates on their lifecycle grid.
As to whether those are industry standard? ... Close enough?
Googling "End of support vs end of life" gives a few good results. From Wikipedia:
"End-of-life" (EOL) is a term used with respect to a product supplied to customers, indicating that the product is in the end of its useful life (from the vendor's point of view), and a vendor stops marketing, selling, or rework sustaining it. (The vendor may simply intend to limit or end support for the product.)
Between that and a few of the other results, the consensus seems to be that end of support is just that, when a company stops offering support and maintenance on a product. After that, you may be able to get help, but it will likely come at a premium.
End of life is when the vendor says that a product is obsolete and should no longer be used. They typically won't sell it any more, offer support at all and will recommend getting something newer.
So in the case of SQL Server 2008, you can get support and patches up until 7/9/2019. After that you are either out of luck for support or you will pay through the nose for it. You can (possibly) keep buying licenses from Microsoft for it if you need them. After 7/31/2023 you will be unable to get any support at all and Microsoft won't sell you copies or licenses for SQL Server 2008.
Also, this term is not limited to software. Hardware, for example, goes through similar phases. Car manufacturers do the same (you can only get spare parts for cars for so long. After their end of life date (typically 10-15 years) your only source of parts is scrounging a junkyard.
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Yes, I did check the Wiki. The problem is that it defines "End of life" by stating (among other things) "the vendor may simply intend to limit or end support". So it doesn't actually clarify anything. Kind of cracked me up that you then went and posted it in an answer.John Wu– John Wu2018-06-12 19:11:37 +00:00Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 19:11
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So what isn't clear here? If end of support is when we stop providing tech support and end of life is when we stop selling it as well as stop all support they seem different to me.Becuzz– Becuzz2018-06-12 19:45:58 +00:00Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 19:45