Last Date of Support (End-of-Support)

[santosomar]

This is a follow up of #13

Let's define each element and work on their definitions in separate GitHub issues. This issue will focus on defining:

Last Date of Support (End-of-Support)

[santosomar]

Potential Definition

Last Date of Support, also known as End-of-Support (EOS), is the final date when a vendor or maintainer will offer any form of technical support, updates, or patches for a specific software or hardware product. After this date, the product will no longer receive any updates, including security patches, bug fixes, or customer support services. Users are strongly advised to upgrade or transition to a supported product before the EOS date to avoid potential security risks and lack of support.

Note: For free open-source software, there is not an End-of-Sales date, as the software is typically freely available for download and use.

Example:

Consider an open-source software project called "OpenTask," a project management tool maintained by the OpenTech community. The maintainers of OpenTask announce that the Last Date of Support for version 1.2 will be December 31, 2024. After this date, the OpenTech community will no longer provide any support, updates, or security patches for OpenTask 1.2. Users are encouraged to migrate to OpenTask version 2.0, which will continue to receive updates and support.

[lfrancke]

I believe your Note is a copy & paste leftover from the End-of-Sales definition?

[fjscao]

"a specific software product" needs to be clarified. There are two categories: the product or <product, version>. In many cases, <product, version> is the case.