Some of the UK's largest businesses will be represented at
a meeting today to discuss how to handle Microsoft's plans to end
extended support for the NT 4.0 operating system at the end of the
year.
The meeting has been organised by the Corporate IT Forum, Tif, in
response to users' concerns, particularly about security, once
mainstream support has officially ended.
Released in 1996, NT 4.0 was widely regarded as the first fully
functional Microsoft server operating system. Although it
wassuperseded by Windows 2000 and then Windows 2003 in April last
year, many users are still running NT 4.0.
Microsoft will officially end support for the NT 4.0 operating
system in December. It is urging users to upgrade to newer versions
of its operating system, but some businesses are reluctant to
change systems that are working well.
Security is the primary concern of Tif members, said David Roberts,
chief executive of Tif. He added, "Many organisations will continue
to run large-scale enterprise applications on NT 4.0 for some time.
Some businesses have up to 100 internal servers running
NT4.0.
"We cannot stop the business just because Microsoft stops support.
The workshop will look at patching to protect against new types of
security threat."
Microsoft recommends several third-party companies that can migrate
NT 4.0 users to Windows 2003.
For those that do not want to migrate, a Microsoft spokeswoman
encouraged them to contact one of Microsoft's gold certified
support partners, as it said many would be providing support for
the product. She said online self-help would remain available for
users and suggested that anyone who required support (including
hotfix support) should contact Microsoft to discuss potential
custom support options.
Roberts suggested Microsoft hand over the NT 4.0 source code -
either to a software escrow agency, or to the user community. This
would allow users and third-party software houses to also support
the product. Microsoft said it had no plans to do this.