As with all prior versions of the Microsoft Office system, Microsoft ended availability for the 2003 Microsoft Office release as customers adopted our latest version — the 2007 Microsoft Office system. The release of the 2007 Microsoft Office system marks the most significant advancements to Microsoft Office in more than a decade. Between a redesigned desktop experience and new server innovations, the 2007 Microsoft Office system puts the information people need to drive business success at their fingertips. A comprehensive description of all the 2007 Office system products can be found on the Products home page.

This page details the Microsoft End of Life plan regarding product availability and support for the 2003 release.

• License availability for the 2003 Microsoft Office release

• License availability roadmap

• Support for the 2003 release

License availability for the 2003 Microsoft Office release

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and System Builders licenses for the 2003 release were available for OEMs and OEM Distributors to purchase until June 30, 2007.

Retailers were able to purchase most retail products until April 30, 2007. A subset of products were available for purchase until May 31, 2007 and another final small subset of products were available for purchase until June 30, 2007. The table below provides details on retail discontinuation dates.

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License availability roadmap

¹ These products had a retail discontinuation date of February 28, 2007: Office Professional 2003 Win32 Greek CD, Office Professional 2003 Win32 Greek Academic Edition CD, Office Professional 2003 Win32 Greek Version Upgrade CD.
² These products had a retail discontinuation date of February 28, 2007: Office Professional 2003 Win32 Portuguese CD, Office Professional 2003 Win32 Portuguese Academic Edition CD, Office Professional 2003 Win32 Portuguese Version Upgrade CD.

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Support for the 2003 release

Customers who purchased Office 2003 with a new computer will continue to receive support for the 2003 release products based on their OEM’s or System Builder’s policy. Customers who purchased Office 2003 from a retailer will have access to Mainstream Support until April 14, 2009. This means retail customers can place calls to Microsoft Customer Service and Support about Office 2003-related issues for the following:

• Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis)
• Security update support
• The ability to request non-security Hot Fixes

At the end of Mainstream Support, Microsoft offers end-user customers 60 months of Extended Support for the 2003 release until January 14, 2014. Extended Support will allow for:

• Security update support at no additional cost
• Paid incident support options only

During the Extended Support period, non-security related Hot Fix support requires a separate Extended Hot Fix Support contract to be purchased where per-fix fees will apply. Microsoft will not accept requests for design changes, or new features during the Extended Support phase.

Read the Microsoft Support Lifecycle (MSL) policy.

Read the Microsoft Support Lifecycle (MSL) policy frequently asked questions.

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