Microsoft warns: 'Significant risks' for those still on Windows 2003

Microsoft officially ended support for its Windows Server 2003 (a.k.a. Win2K3) on July 14, 2015, seven months after it announced the planned move across users of the 13-year-old operating system worldwide.

In a statement, the software major warned that those still running Windows Server 2003 and their customers will face significant security and compliance risks that could prove more costly than an initial migration, since they will no longer receive security patches or updates.

Customers will now have to modernise their infrastructure and applications by migrating to Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft Azure and Office 365, it said.

In February 2015, Microsoft announced that it will be pulling the plug on Win2K3 in six months – or July 2015. At that time, Gartner reckoned there were eight million Windows Server 2003 operating systems in operation.

Avanade, a JV between Accenture and Microsoft, said at the time that it expected 20 per cent of that 8 million – 1.6 million – to remain on the unsupported system even after the July 14 end-of-support date.

The move is part of Microsoft’s support lifecycle policies and it applies to all versions and SKUs of the Windows Server 2003 products, including Small Business Server and Windows Storage Server. Microsoft as well as most of its partners will continue to assist customers with their migrations from Windows Server 2003, it added.

Migrating IT infrastructure will guarantee customers protection for their servers with continued security updates and patches from Microsoft, it said.

“Customers now have an opportunity to add significant business value to their organisations by migrating to more modern platforms and technologies whether on-premise or in the cloud via Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft Azure and Office 365,” said Cameron Collins, Product Marketing Manager–Cloud Enterprise. Microsoft Gulf.

“While Microsoft ended support of Windows Server 2003 on July 14, there are actions that customers can and should take today to avoid risking the integrity of their IT. By migrating either to the cloud or to the latest version of Windows Server, customers can ensure that they have access to enterprise-grade state of the art features and technology innovation,” he added.

Retiring a product is a normal part of the product lifecycle. Windows Server 2003 was released in April 2003 and while most Microsoft software is supported for 10 years, Windows Server 2003 has been supported for almost 12 years. The world has changed since Windows Server 2003 was first deployed.

What to do if you’re still on Win2K3

Microsoft said that organisations moving their applications and other workloads to the public cloud can choose Azure, an open and flexible cloud platform. App developers can build applications using any language, tool or framework, with the ability to also integrate these public cloud applications with the existing IT environment.

It added that businesses running email and communications workload on Windows Server 2003 can move to Office 365, a cloud-based productivity and communications service that includes access to Office applications plus other productivity services, such as Lync web conferencing and Exchange Online hosted email for business, and additional online storage with OneDrive and Skype.  

Enabling the move to the cloud platform

Microsoft said it has worked to ease the migration for customers in several ways that include providing training and tools to partners around the world to build capacity and capability to manage complex projects, especially those involving server and application migrations.

It said it also launched the Windows Server 2003 end-of-support countdown website which has been providing customers with guidance for the entire migration process along with information about the services and tools available, and provides these services, from assessment and training, through to comprehensive platform migration services and risk management, help customers prepare for a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

Microsoft said its experts are available to help organisations analyse their Windows Server 2003 workloads and generate a summary report showing recommendations and Microsoft partner offerings.

 

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