What Does End-of-Support Mean?
End-of-support refers to a situation in which a company ceases support for a product or service. This is typically applied to hardware and software products when a company releases a new version and ends support for previous versions.
End-of-support is also known as an end-of-support policy.
Techopedia Explains End-of-Support
In general, tech companies must help customers prepare for changes, in order to prevent numerous potential shared liabilities. To facilitate end-of-support, forward-thinking organizations offer customers an end-of-support policy – vital because it allows individuals and businesses to protect themselves from harm, in the event of lack of support.
Without adequate support, software potentially becomes less safe and secure over time. Buyers typically are instructed not to use software versions without support, likely because a company does not intend to offer security patches or upgrades to protect users from viruses, malware and other sorts of cyberattacks.
One instructive example of end-of-support and end-of-life is the release of successive versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS). As it unveils new versions, Microsoft periodically announces the end of support for obsolete versions. An end-of-life policy or end-of-support policy helps facilitate the migration of services and platforms so that businesses, federal/municipal agencies and individual users are not caught in the middle. A number of industries that formerly used obsolete Windows versions (like Windows 95/98 or Vista) for networks or other systems, relied on that support for adequate security and compliance.
