Autodesk's retirement of BIM 360 Glue on July 31, 2026, was a different kind of deadline, and the end of Windows 10 support was different again. All three get called "end of life." Each asks something different of the business, and the date in the vendor's notice may not be the one that matters most.
The headline may not tell the whole story. A supplier might retire one application but keep others in the same family, and terms can vary by version or contract.
Read the underlying notice and pin down four things: whether users keep access, what happens to stored data, which support and security fixes continue, and whether integrations and migration tools remain available. That shows whether the business faces a service interruption, reduced protection, or a transition that gets harder after a particular date.
Autodesk announced the end of BIM 360 Glue on July 31, 2025, and retired it a year later. Its end-of-life guidance was blunt: "Existing data will not be accessible after July 31st, 2026." Autodesk offered a Data Transition tool for copying models into Autodesk Docs and warned that integrations relying on Glue or its APIs would be affected.
Not everything went with it. Autodesk confirmed that models already present in BIM 360 Field would remain accessible, although Glue could no longer update them, and said the newer BIM 360 platform had no announced retirement plan.
Here the vendor's deadline and the last available option fell on the same day. For a construction team midway through a project, the year's notice had to cover choosing which models and project history to keep, moving them, and checking that field teams still had reliable information.
For firms seeking outside assistance, technology management by Bluebox1 is one example of a service that lists CAD, BIM and Autodesk Construction support for architecture, engineering and construction businesses. Before appointing any provider, ask for experience with the specific application, data and integrations the project depends on.
Standard support for Windows 10 ended on October 14, 2025. Nothing switched off, but eligible commercial customers who wanted security updates had to enroll in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates program, available for up to three years. It provides critical and important security updates only, without nonsecurity fixes, new features or general support.
The first commercial year costs $61 per device, and the price doubles each year after that. At published commercial list prices, three full years come to $427 per device ($61 + $122 + $244). Late entrants must pay for the years they missed, and partial years cannot be bought. Some qualifying cloud and virtual deployments, including Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop, receive ESU at no extra charge.
ESU makes sense where PCs run machinery or specialist applications that cannot yet move to Windows 11, provided the business has an inventory of affected devices and a dated plan for each dependency.
The maintenance dates are not new: mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications runs until December 31, 2027, and eligible customers can then buy optional extended maintenance until December 31, 2030. SAP's October 7, 2026 clarification confirmed those dates and explained what ends alongside them.
At the end of 2030, SAP's reselling and support agreements with major third-party database providers expire for these legacy environments, as do its support arrangements for Java (Java 8/JEE5) used with SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java 7.5. Customer-specific maintenance cannot replace them. For systems on third-party databases, conversion to SAP S/4HANA or SAP Cloud ERP is available only until then.
There is a narrow exception. The "Transition Option for SAP ERP" is a time-limited subscription for 2031–2033, intended for the largest and most complex customers whose transformation is underway but may not finish in time. Systems must be moved to SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA before December 31, 2030; further eligibility conditions apply, and Java-dependent capabilities are excluded.
Affected systems can remain operational in 2031, but under customer-specific maintenance with significant restrictions. The risk is that a company loses database support and the less disruptive route to its successor, and a program budgeted as a conversion becomes a new implementation. SAP's advice to affected customers is that they "should prepare now and plan accordingly."
Gira's experience shows what that preparation can involve. The German smart-building manufacturer completed its SAP ECC-to-S/4HANA conversion in November 2022, five years before mainstream maintenance ends. According to a case study published by its implementation partner valantic, Gira secured consulting capacity early, chose an extended brownfield conversion, replaced a homegrown reporting system that would not run on S/4HANA and left most process improvements for later.
The project involved up to 100 people at times, and postponing go-live would have delayed it by six months. Large migrations often depend on fixed go-live windows. For SAP customers affected by the 2030 conversion cutoff, planning needs to account for implementation lead times and possible delays well before that deadline.
A supplier can say when its service changes. It cannot know how long your business needs to prepare.
A company that must keep project records available to customers has to do more than export them. Someone must check that the records are complete, test retrieval in the replacement system and meet any contractual notice requirements, so approval could be needed months before the vendor turns anything off.
A useful decision paper separates three dates:
Applied to the three cases, the dates look like this:
| Vendor deadline | Last available option | Internal decision date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autodesk BIM 360 Glue | July 31, 2026: access withdrawn | July 31, 2026: data left in Glue becomes inaccessible | Early enough in the year's notice to choose, move and check the data that mattered |
| Windows 10 | October 14, 2025: standard support ends | October 2028: commercial ESU reaches its three-year limit, at a higher price each year | In time to upgrade or replace the last dependent devices before coverage ends |
| SAP Business Suite 7 on a third-party database | December 31, 2027 (mainstream) and December 31, 2030 (optional extended) | End of 2030: the conversion route and the Transition Option's entry condition both close | End of 2030, minus the full program: partner selection, budget approval, conversion, testing and contingency |
The internal decision date column belongs in executives' calendars. It should be built from procurement, testing, contractual obligations and contingency rather than read off the supplier's announcement, and for SAP customers it may fall years before the last available option expires. If a term is uncertain, ask the vendor to confirm it in writing.
Hidden dependencies pull the decision date earlier still. Fundz's article on what growing businesses lose sight of as systems multiply examines the connections that build up as operations expand. When a vendor withdraws an integration, as Autodesk did with Glue's APIs, missing even one of those connections can delay the whole transition.
Not every vendor deadline justifies an immediate replacement project.
Migrate or replace when the service is going away, as Glue did. The plan must test business outputs, connected systems and the ability to keep operating through the cutover as well as the file transfer.
Buy a defined extension when the product keeps working but ordinary support ends. Windows 10 ESU is worthwhile when its coverage is understood, and the business has a date for leaving it, and expensive when it becomes a habit.
Continue without full support only as an explicit, owned decision with periodic review. SAP's position after 2030 shows the limits: customer-specific maintenance will not replace the expiring database and Java support, and SAP advises against treating it as a long-term operating model for affected systems. Doing nothing should never become the default just because nobody has approved a replacement.
Retire the workflow when nobody needs it. Paying to reproduce a process that customers or staff have stopped using is a poor response to a supplier deadline.
These choices overlap with the questions in Fundz's guide to building for change rather than trying to future-proof a business. The difference here is the clock: a supplier can remove an option before the business feels ready to change.
An IT team can run Autodesk's Data Transition tool, enroll devices in ESU or scope an S/4HANA conversion. It usually cannot decide which project history is worth keeping, approve three years of rising ESU fees across a fleet of PCs, or commit the company to a reimplementation.
The executive responsible for the affected operation should own those choices, with technical, financial, legal and security specialists explaining the alternatives and their costs. Delivery can sit with a different person or team.
Outside support contracts deserve the same close reading as the vendor notice. Adept Solutions, for example, states on its IT consulting page that regular business reviews are part of its managed services, while "a project is anything outside the scope of your contract." A migration can easily fall on the project side of a line like that. Readers comparing providers can learn more about how Adept structures its managed and supplemental services.
Whichever provider you choose, get its responsibilities for migration, testing and handover in writing.
A short, well-supported proposal usually does more than a long technology roadmap. It should set out:
The test of the decision date is simple: will the team still have time to complete and verify the work before an essential option disappears?
Glue gave a year's notice and then stopped. Windows 10 PCs kept running, but security updates came at a rising price. SAP Business Suite 7 systems can remain operational after 2030 under more restricted support arrangements, but for some customers the less disruptive route to its successor closes when that year ends. In each case, the vendor's date was a reference point. The date that counted was the one the business had to set for itself.
No. A hosted service such as BIM 360 Glue can become unavailable, while installed software such as Windows 10 keeps running without standard support. The vendor's notice should say which product, version and service is affected.
Yes, for eligible customers and for a limited period. Windows 10 ESU lasts up to three years, covers security updates only and doubles in price each year. Treat it as part of a dated transition plan.
The maintenance dates stayed the same. SAP clarified that its third-party database and Java support arrangements end with 2030, and that systems on third-party databases can convert to SAP S/4HANA or SAP Cloud ERP only until then.
Confirm export rights, retention terms and delivery formats, then test that the information can be retrieved before access or export tools disappear. With Glue, data left in the service after the retirement date could no longer be reached.
Not if waiting would close an export route, breach a customer commitment or leave too little time for a safe transition. Ask the supplier precise questions, compare the alternatives and set an internal decision date.