Microsoft recently announced that the Mainstream Support would end at 09/04/2013.

However there is still Extended Support available for Dynamics CRM 4.0 until 10/04/2018.

Please find a table with all the Support Lifecycle dates for all versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM below.

What does this mean to you?

In short it means for most Dynamics CRM 4.0 customers that this version is no longer supported.

You might wonder “But did you say there is still Extended Support for Dynamics CRM 4.0?”.

So what is Extended Support and how does it differ from Main Stream Support?

Microsoft supports each release of its software in phases. As new releases come out, the previous releases continue to be supported as a mainstream release for a period of time, usually a couple of years. Mainstream means that Microsoft will continue to treat the release like their current production release: with hotfixes for bugs, cumulative updates or service packs at longer intervals, and by offering prepaid or per-incident-paid technical support cases. At some point, Microsoft decides it no longer needs to provide this higher-level of support for older releases. Then the software goes into a phase called “extended support”.

Below you can find a table which explains what is included in the different Support Phases.

Note A hotfix is a modification to the commercially available Microsoft product software code to address specific critical problems.

Mainstream Support

Mainstream Support is the first phase of the product support lifecycle.
At the supported service pack level, Mainstream Support for software products includes:

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

Please note:

• Enrolment in a maintenance program may be required to receive these benefits for certain products

Mainstream Support for Consumer Hardware products includes:

• Hardware repairs or replacements and parts
• Services are free for products under warranty
• Support for a fee after warranty expires
• Software and Security updates

Extended Support

The Extended Support phase follows Mainstream Support for Business, Developer and Desktop Operating System products.
At the supported service pack level, Extended Support includes:

• Paid support
• Security update support at no additional cost
• Non-security related hotfix support requires a separate Extended Hotfix Support Agreement to be purchased (per-fix fees also apply).
  This agreement is not available for Desktop Operating System consumer products. More details are available here.

Please note:

• Microsoft will not accept requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features during the Extended Support phase
• Extended Support is not available for Consumer, Consumer Hardware, or Multimedia products
• Enrolment in a maintenance program may be required to receive these benefits for certain products

For the official Microsoft announcement please visit this link: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?c2=629