On 13th October, we saw the end of full support from Microsoft SharePoint 2010. From here, Microsoft offers only extended support until 2020 when support altogether will fully come to an end for SharePoint 2010. However, as of the 13th, all 2010 SharePoint users lost the following:
1. Free incident reporting
Calls made to Microsoft from either a public user or a Microsoft Partner will be charged the normal fee of a service call, no exceptions. Even if the call results in what would previously be labelled a “no-charge” incident, you will still be billed for calling.
2. Design Changes and Feature requests
Microsoft from here on will not accept any feedback form SharePoint 2010 users on design or engineering specifics.
3. Hot Fixes for non-security issues
No more feature or functionality hot fixes means no more public updates or service packs of any kind. The only way around this is to have a Premier Support Agreement with Microsoft that users can pay for.
4. All Warranty claims
All warranties that were gained on the time of payment for SharePoint 2010 will no longer be valid to make a claim under after the 13th. Microsoft has stated they will not be honoring these warranties as the software has technically become “legacy” software.
What does all this mean?
The biggest problem users will find resulting from these changes is that if there is a bug found in SharePoint 2010 with something you’re trying to do, there will be no hot fix for it, nor will you be able to call Microsoft Support for free to discover what is going on. Thus, you will likely have to throw a hefty sum of money at the problem just to find out if it is SharePoint’s fault or an internal error by contacting a third party engineer.
Besides this, with roughly 42 percent of all SharePoint users still using 2010, it’s a pretty big deal for a lot of people that none of the above features will be available any longer.
If you’re in this 42%, don’t worry, you still have options
If you don’t want to stick around in the abandoned wasteland that is SharePoint 2010, then you have three options.
A- Wait until SharePoint 2016 is released next Spring and migrate then
B- Migrate over to 2013 and enjoy the support options as soon as possible
C- Use SharePoint Online
Waiting for SharePoint 2016 might feel like the best bet for a lot of companies that are very hesitant about the migration process or simply don’t have to time to deal with such a headache. If you want to find out more about SharePoint 2016, you can take a look here at our last post on the topic.
Moving to SharePoint 2013 is a safe bet, especially for companies that are really wanting to more to storing data- on premise. With the vastly popular new introductions to functionality like social tools and innovative publishing features, 2013 has been the option of choice for an overwhelming percentage of SharePoint users.
Navigating SharePoint Online is the pure cloud version of SharePoint that offers those with subscriptions features that are constantly being updated, and some of which aren’t even available in SharePoint 2013. Microsoft introduced this option for companies to skip the whole migration thing that is such a hassle after they’ve done it once to get online.
With SharePoint 2010 support finally coming down to its final stages, it’s up to you to decide whether or not you can survive without the main support options that SharePoint users have been used to. Looking forward at SharePoint 2016, we’re excited to see all the new things companies will be able to do with their on premise servers and websites hosting options so don’t count that out!
By: Meenakshi Vashisht