Be proactive and don’t wait until your software or operating systems are no longer supported by manufacturers and thus cause you serious operational problems and security breaches.
Continuing to operate with an operating system or software that is no longer supported by the developer may cause serious operational problems. They can paralyze a department, slow down your productivity, not to mention the security breaches they create in your corporate network.
It is important to take into account the dates published by the manufacturers. For example, at Microsoft, the lifetime of an operating system or software is divided into two periods. There is “Main Support” which is to provide the user with product technical support, security updates, patches, enhancements and new features.
Then comes the period of “Extended Support” which still includes technical support for users, but where updates will only be for security patches. It is at the end of this second period that your computer represents a security breach in your network or that it risks causing you compatibility problems with other software.
Since Microsoft Windows and its Office suite are the most widely used in businesses in Quebec, I suggest that you read the following table representing the important dates to know in order to avoid the problems mentioned above:
| Product | Main Support | Extended Support |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows 7 | January 13, 2015 | January 14, 2020 |
| Microsoft Windows 8.1 | January 9, 2018 | January 10, 2023 |
| Microsoft Windows 10 | October 13, 2020 | October 14, 2025 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2008 | January 13, 2015 | January 13, 2020 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 | January 13, 2015 | January 14, 2020 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2012 | October 9, 2018 | October 10, 2023 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 | October 9, 2018 | October 10, 2023 |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2016 | November 11, 2022 | November 11, 2027 |
| Microsoft Office 2007 | October 10, 2012 | October 10, 2017 |
| Microsoft Office 2010 | October 13, 2015 | October 13, 2020 |
| Microsoft Office 2013 | April 10, 2018 | April 11, 2023 |
| Microsoft Office 2016 | October 13, 2020 | October 14, 2025 |
If one or more of your computers\servers use a product with a date in red or if it does not appear in the table, I strongly urge you to discuss with your IT team or consultant possible solutions to implement place the upgrade of your computer facilities in order to eliminate or avoid the consequences that the use of these obsolete products can cause!