I'm new to Ubuntu and am running an old unsupported release and would like to gain some understanding of how the release schedule works.
What the difference is between an end of life and a supported release is and how I can go about moving to a supported release?
Here's the extent of what I know: Windows executables don't run natively on Ubuntu and my update manager says the Ubuntu I have is no longer supported.
You need to locate and download a supported release. That'll be 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, or 16.10. I wouldn't recommend anything but the LTS releases unless you like having to upgrade a lot.
Once you have a supported OS installed, you'll still need additional software to run .exe files, because those are DOS/Windows executables, and aren't directly compatible with Ubuntu (or any other flavor of Linux). If there are Windows programs you need to use, you may be able to use Wine or PlayOnLinux to provide the Windows API they expect -- but not every Windows program works that way.
All operating systems have a set time they recieve support and once the are no longer supported they are at end of life.
Microsoft - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle
Ubuntu - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases
and from - https://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life
Ubuntu release end of life
When an Ubuntu release reaches its “end of life” it receives no further maintenance updates, including critical security upgrades. We highly recommend that you upgrade to a recent version of Ubuntu at this point.
So you should install a supported version of Ubuntu so that your receive bug fixes and security updates.
