[Info-vax] Comparison of vendor support for OSes vs VMS (5.5-2)?

[John Wallace]

On Aug 15, 11:09 pm, "C.W.Holeman II" <cwhii_google_s... at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> I am attempting to compare the support available from the corporation
> that creates an OS version for a couple of OSes. Here is some info fromhttp://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/openvms_supportchart.htmlfor a
> version of VMS released almost two decades ago:
>
> OpenVMS VAX version: 5.5-2
> Version release date: Nov 1991
> Standard Support end date: Sep 30, 1995
> Entry date to PVS-Sustaining Engineering: Oct 1, 1995
> Ending date for PVS-Sustaining Engineering: At least through 2012, with
> 24 month notice thereafter
>
> What might be the support available from Microsoft for their 1991
> Windows OS? Or what is the oldest Windows OS version that Microsoft
> supports at this time?
>
> ... or maybe some other OSes like the ones on Apple Macintosh systems,
> or IBM.
>
> --
> C.W.Holeman II cwh... at Julian5Locals.com-5http://JulianLocals.com/cwhii
>   To only a fraction of the  human race  does God give the  privilege of
>   earning one's bread doing what one would have gladly pursued free, for
>   passion. I am very thankful.The Mythical Man-Month Epilogue/F.P.Brooks

If you haven't already looked at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx
you might want to have a quick look. Beware however that it doesn't
actually answer the questions that you want answered (such as when did
support end for Windows 2000/NT4/etc). A linked page *does* answer
those questions for the variants of Window box software which MS
targets at what MS refer to as embedded systems, which are expected to
have longer lifetimes than the allegedly identical matching desktop/
server software.

IE when Microsoft say that support for Windows XP (etc) ceases on a
given date, it is likely they mean that support for the non-embedded
variant of XP (etc). Patches for the OS (in particular, its embedded
variant) will continue to be generated by MS, so that they can be used
on the embedded variant, but non-embedded customers are expected to
obtain updates to a more recent software version to obtain continuing
support.

Hth,
John (not speaking for Microsoft, obviously)