Server 2008 End-of-Life

Is End-of-Life as bad as it sounds? You may consider acting as if it is.

In technology terms End-of-Life, or EoL, signals the end of a product's support cycle. EoL - not to be confused with End-of-Sale - is when all of the work on your products upkeep stops. Most of us have run a Windows Update, or two hundred thousand, and that is part of the support super highway that stops flowing. At EoL on 1/14/20, your Microsoft Server 2008 will stop receiving the ongoing security updates specific to itself.

EoL is the end of the Support Lifecycle for the product. The more important the server/computer, the higher the potential need for manufacturer support.

In truth, support for Server 2008 ended years ago the summer of 2013. The product's "extended support" cycle expired in January of 2015. Microsoft tells us that this means that as of 1/14/20 there will be no additional:

  • • Free security updates on-premises
  • • Non-security updates
  • • Free support options
  • • Online technical content update


If and when you start to pursue your Server operating system options through Microsoft's public-facing web pages you will quickly realize that Microsoft would encourage you to consider moving that server to the Azure Cloud (Microsoft's own cloud technology).

Why ever in the world would Microsoft want you to move your server to the cloud?

Recurring revenue.

That Server 2008 software cost you roughly $1,000 in 2008 (depending on licensing and not including the server hardware, of course). You used it for...ten years? Depreciated it? Changed the programs that ran on it? Microsoft was sending updates down to your server, but you were not sending any money back upstream to Microsoft. They took notice.

You may remember when you could give your Micorosft Office CD to your friends to install? That lasted longer than it should have, but created a massive install base. Those days are gone and you may have already Moved your e-mail to the Office 365 cloud...that started life as a free thing called Hotmail.

As you can see in the associated image, Microsoft expects you to Lift-and-Shift to the Azure Cloud. The why is simply recurring revenue. You do get something in return in the form of not owning and maintaining your own asset, but it may not be of matching value. While hosting servers on Azure is progressive and recommended by Microsoft, speak to your network consultant to determine what your real costs have been and what they will be once you transition your depreciate assets to never-ending lease agreements.



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