Creo Parametric 6 - End of Support???

[TomU]

I just created a support case for Creo Parametric 6 and received this message:

Very confused, I went to the product calendar and looked up the 'standard support end date' for Creo 6:

How is this even possible?  Creo 6.0 is the latest version of Creo Parametric currently offered by PTC.  How can support for 6.0 be cut off when 7.0 hasn't even been released yet?  Granted, 7.0 is supposed to be released sometime this month, but how can there be zero overlap between the products.  Surely the 6.0 support should extend until at least the first maintenance release of 7.0, shouldn't it?

[BenLoosli]

PTC did the same thing with Creo 5. Support ended when Creo 6 was released.

At least Creo 6 has new build releases scheduled until next year, so hopefully it will be compatible with Windchill 12.

Looking at the calendar, Creo 4 won't be supported with Windchill 12 until October and its support ends when Creo 7 is released, also.

There does need to be some overlap as most companies do not jump on to a new release immediately.

[TomU]

Right, but Creo 7 hasn't even been released yet.  That's why this was so surprising.

[VladimirN]

And more additional information:

[TomU]

Still, why would a company stop supporting their current, latest product before anything newer is even available?  It makes no sense...

[PaulSagar]

The intent here is to have standard support for a Creo release end with the release of the new version. For example Creo 5 standard support ended in March 2019 to coincide with the release of Creo 6 in March 2019. Maintenance builds will then continue for a further 12 months at a reduced cadence.

The reason for the discrepancy between Creo 6 and Creo 7 is due to Creo 7 release moving to April.  Rest assured Creo 6 is still supported and there are still 2 further maintenance releases planned.

[TomU]

@PaulSagar,

Thanks for the reply.  Two followup questions.

1.)  If the release date for Creo 7 was moved out, shouldn't the standard support end data for Creo 6 also be moved out?

2.)  According to the product calendar, standard support is over and extended support is not available, yet your response seems to indicate that Creo 6 will remain supported through at least the next two maintenance releases (into February of next year.)  How do we reconcile these two things?  Should there be another "level" of support where cases can still be opened and problems worked through, but an understanding that any fixes will only be offered in Creo 7?

[PaulSagar · Accepted solution]

The actual final date doesn't really matter here, but to eliminate confusion I will work to get it adjusted to April 2020.

To answer your second question we provide the additional 2 maintenance build to allow customers a transition period between releases. When those maintenance releases have been delivered no further updates will be provided for that version. We will still work with customers on any issue they have, however if the result is a software defect then that would only be fixed in a newer version.