In the year 2012 it is amazing how many small (and some large) businesses are still running Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2012 was just released this month, representing a jump forward in 4 versions since Windows 2003 (2003R2, 2008, 2008R2 and 2012). Don’t you think it is time to upgrade?
Windows Server 2003 came out in May of 2005, service pack 1 in March of the same year and service pack 2 in March of 2007. Mainstream support for all of these products ended in July of 2010, over two years ago.
Extended support begins when mainstream support ends, and will terminate on July 14, 2015. Extended support refers to the time when Microsoft will no longer provide new non-security “hotfixes” for the product. The only other updates available are done by opening a paid support case. (see: “An explanation of Extended Support phase for business & Developer products“).
Application compatibility is very often the reason why upgrades are not performed. One would hope, however that the application provider has kept up with technology and has a new version (with new features and functionality).
Do you want to run your business on a product like this? Don’t you want to take advantage of the many improvements that have been made over the 9 years since the release of Windows Server 2003? Don’t wait until your machine fails to find out you are on your own. Plan for a start the upgrade process now.
Alan Buckwalter
IT Consultant
alan@jefric.com
I don’t think you can count “R2” as a version. R2 is just where M$ gets you to pay for fixes and features that they didn’t manage to get into the new version.