> Normally with Commercial (COTS) software, the manufacturer has an > end-of-support or end-of-life date, but I'm not sure how this works > for free or open source software.
Pretty much the same way except that the company providing support is not the "manufacturer". For both proprietary (what you call "commercial") software and free or open source software, if you want support for the software, you must contract with some company to provide it. In the case of proprietary software, this is almost always the "manufacturer" of the software and the contract is often part of the contract where you purchase the software. For free or open source software, you can choose between a number of companies that provide support for the software. Each company will have different policies regarding how much support they provide for each version of the software and when they no longer support that version. This question should be directed at the company you've chosen to maintain your software.
