Editing Software release life cycle (section)

=== {{Anchor|GA|General availability}}General availability (GA) ===
[[File:ProductEndOfLifeCycle.png|thumb|Milestones in a product life cycle: general availability (GA), [[end of life announcement]] (EOLA), [[last order date]] (LOD), and [[End-of-life (product)|end-of-life]]. (EOL)]]
'''General availability''' ('''GA''') is the marketing stage at which all necessary [[commercialization]] activities have been completed and a software product is available for purchase, depending, however, on language, region, and electronic vs. media availability.<ref>{{cite web |first=Yvan Philippe |last=Luxembourg |title=Top 200 SAM Terms – A Glossary Of Software Asset Management Terms |url=http://omtco.eu/references/sam/top-200-sam-terms-a-glossary-of-software-asset-management-terms/ |website=Operations Management Technology Consulting |date=20 May 2013 |access-date=21 May 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810111112/http://omtco.eu/references/sam/top-200-sam-terms-a-glossary-of-software-asset-management-terms/ |archive-date=10 August 2013 }}</ref> Commercialization activities could include security and compliance tests, as well as localization and worldwide availability. The time between RTM and GA can take from days to months before a generally available release can be declared, due to the time needed to complete all commercialization activities required by GA. At this stage, the software has "gone live".