End of Life (EOL), also commonly called a “product sunset,” is often regarded as the communicated final period of time a product (or service) is offered. This is a journey that can trigger dread, frustration and even a sense of loss for some users. It is much like the hole or thin spot developing in your favorite pair of jeans, one that a bit of sewing or a patch just won’t fix. You know the day is coming when they either have to go in the bin or get consigned to “housework” only. Software products are that way too.
As soon as software products launch, their creators are already working on updates with new features and improved performance. These improvements and any bugs that may come up are managed via predetermined levels of support and investment, which usually taper off ahead of the product’s End of Life*. Finally, the day arrives when there are more obvious changes to a product. For some users, changes in user interface (UI), how the design is laid out, and user experience (UX) – how the interaction and functions behave – can be confusing at first.
Immortality: The best parts of your ESET products live on
These are real feelings that even many ESET employees (coders, too!) share with users. However, times and, in this case, threats change; our products have to change with them, or else we would not be supplying you with quality protection.
Prior to the current COVID-19 lockdowns, ESET was already on course to reduce the number of older versions of ESET products it supports. This has become a more immediate priority now, with the entire internet ecosystem becoming even more critical to both consumer and business customers. The fact is that most of the core functionality of our technology will stay in place. So, while all products, including those for Windows, macOS and Android, are continuously updated with new features, these are based on already mature technologies that have been rigorously tested and proven.
What’s changing and when?
As of July 1, 2020, the new ESET End of Life Policy will take effect. It introduces changes to how we support, and how long we will support, consumer products through their communicated lifetimes. This takes in product and version lifespans, product updates and, finally, the technical support we will offer users, providing a more predictable system that reflects the current security landscape.
Starting July 1, there will be three levels of product support, down from four: Full Support, Limited Support, and EOL. We feel this is important as significant numbers of ESET users, and other web users, have upgraded and expanded their use of both hardware and software in this ongoing crisis to better access remote work, education, and services. To reflect this, the new EOL Policy also details our operating systems support policy, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. We commit to supporting all new major OS upgrades as they're released.
As a research-driven company, we also want to ensure our users understand that our motivation for the new EOL Policy is driven by a protection-first goal. There are many threats, both present and anticipated, that are more effectively tackled by newer technologies. Remember, all ESET users are always and automatically entitled to use, without additional costs, the latest versions and upgrades of their product(s) for which they own a license. In fact, we invite all customers to upgrade (in case they haven’t done so) for the best level of protection.
Because product updates and upgrades are one of the most important ways a user can protect their devices, data and privacy from malware and cybercriminals, ESET continuously works on core functionality and user experience improvements, adding new features and implementing customer feedback both in new products and in existing product, tool and service versions.
The EOLs that we are communicating here also serve another benefit. By reducing the number of variants of older products we support, our engineers and developers can better focus on current and future platforms that protect and allow for an even more intuitive user interface, something that ESET has come to be known for.
*The link provided to the End of Life Policy takes users to the ESET Knowledge Base (KB). The KB is a collection of informative articles and tips that will help you increase protection and ultimately learn more about protecting your digital platforms.