14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will notify customer leveraging its Cloud offerings at least one year in advance of introducing what the company refers to as disruptive changes to its Online Services.
The detail comes from the new Support Lifecycle Policy that the software giant has associated with Microsoft Online Services.
While Microsoft leverages on-premise software to power its Online Services, principles such as Mainstream and Extended support or perennial licenses simply do not apply because of the Cloud component.
Applications and services running in Microsoft’s Cloud need to evolve at the same pace as the underlying platform in order to ensure that customers can access them reliably, and this automatically implies updating and maintenance tasks.
But at the same time, customers, partners, developers, etc., need to be aware of major changes that the Redmond company plans to introduce to its Cloud.
“With the release of the new Online Services Support Lifecycle policies for Microsoft Business and Developer products, we are introducing a new concept we’ve named “disruptive change.”
“Disruptive change broadly refers to changes that require significant action whether in the form of administrator intervention, substantial changes to the user experience, data migration or required updates to client software.
“A key aspect of the new Online Services policy is that Microsoft is committed to providing our customers a minimum of 12 months of prior notification before implementing potentially disruptive changes that may result in a service interruption,” revealed Microsoft’s David Carrington.
Microsoft explained that the policy is designed to cover regular maintenance and service updates, and that there are exceptions.
In this regard, security patches will be introduced as soon as they are baked in order to protect the Cloud assets of both Microsoft and its customers. This will happen even if the security updates would qualify as disruptive changes but without the 12 months prior notification.
“A final concern of the Online Services Support Lifecycle policy is regarding how an Online Service agreement may be terminated. Since customer data may reside in the cloud, Microsoft commits to providing 12 months prior notification before termination of a Business and Developer-oriented Online Service,” Carrington added.
“In addition, to better enable Microsoft customers in any renewal or migration activities, customer data will be preserved for a minimum of 30 days in order to ensure an orderly transition from the Online Service.”