Microsoft has listened to requests from Microsoft Great Plains customers and partners and has extended the mainstream support date for Microsoft Great Plains 8.0, which was originally scheduled to end October 9, 2007. This date has been extended to align with the other Microsoft Dynamics products' support lifecycle timeline of 5 years.

Mainstream Support for Microsoft Dynamics GP 8.0 will end October 13, 2009 (previously October 9, 2007). Microsoft will provide a 2007 Year End Regulatory/Tax update. (U.S. and Canadian tax updates will be provided through October 31, 2008.) No additional tax or regulatory updates will be provided for 2008 Year End as well as 2009.

Customers who are current on a service plan can continue to access technical support through October 13, 2009. Customers who are not current on a service plan can access technical support via pay per incident flexible support.

About the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy

The Support Lifecycle helps customers plan for upcoming product support transitions by providing them with greater predictability. Microsoft Business Solutions provides a minimum of five years of Mainstream Support on new releases after March 2005. After the 5-year Mainstream Support phase, products are no longer supported. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to the most current version and remain on the current service pack to minimize their risk to security exploits or loss of support.