Users of Windows 7, current and planned, have a few dates to remember. First, as of October 30th, Microsoft has stopped selling retail (boxed) packages of that operating system. Second, OEMs can continue to sell systems with Windows 7 preloaded for a year after that date (October 30th, 2014). Third, the operating system will receive typical updates until January 13th, 2015. Fourth, security fixes will be provided until January 14th, 2020. Oddly, Microsoft's website disagrees with Mary Jo Foley's timeline; I expect it might just be out of date.
Windows XP is creeping towards the oblivion as April slowly arrives. The 8th of that month marks the end of security updates and other forms of utter chaos for machines with a vibrant green Start button. With Microsoft essentially turning a blind eye to unpatched exploits, it will become progressively more unsafe to use XP except in well controlled (virtualized, firewalled, etc.) instances.
But, according to Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, Microsoft will not sell them a retail copy of the Windows 7 any more (as of October 30th, 2013). The official Windows Product Lifecycle guide, however, still lists this date as "To be determined". Either Microsoft is very slow (updating their warning website after the date passes) or it was a much softer deadline than the editorial claims. Most of the Amazon product pages are for third party resellers, except for Windows 7 Pro Full, so it might just be clearing stock. Who knows.
OEMs will have a much easier time, however. Microsoft will continue allowing them to sell Windows 7 with new PCs for another year, until October 30th 2014. Again, this date is unlisted from the Windows Product Lifecycle guide.
It will all need to come to an end at some point though. Windows XP lost mainstream support back in April 14th, 2009; the same will come of Windows 7 in a little over a year: January 13th, 2015. That said, beyond new versions of Internet Explorer, Windows 7 has not been receiving too many updates as it stands. With DirectX now considered a core feature of Windows, the last couple of revisions are exclusive to the latest release. We still have Firefox and Chrome when they pull IE from our cold dead hands. I feel weird writing this…
The most devastating date, which XP users are about to face, is the end of extended support. Come January 14th, 2020, Microsoft will not longer provide security updates. Users of Windows 7 will need to be extra cautious and only deploy it in well controlled environments.
Like for me, if Microsoft continues going down the Windows Store path, a VM on a Linux machine.
Yes, After 2020 stick that
Yes, After 2020 stick that win 7 instance on KVM, and wall it off from the internet. Imagine a fresh new win 7 image clean and clear of the usual registry kruft, fresh as the first day it was used, everyday, to run those legacy games, and other things, that may not already be runing on Linux! For browsing, firefox etc. running under your favorite linux distro in another VM, while win 7 chugs along inside its own safe little VM cocoon. It should not be to many years after 2020, when M$ and TIFKAM, are but a memory for gamers, and many others in need of a productive OS, and a fast SteamOS, as well as other penguin based distros will be on everybody’s rig. Even BIG BLUE is getting KVM ready for its PowerPC based servers, and others with ARM based servers running KVM/Linux with Nvidia graphics. It sure looks like M$ is depreciating the desktop in favor of their CrApp Store, so let’s show them our non-appreciation by depreciating M$!
I appreciate Microsoft’s
I appreciate Microsoft’s efforts to bring Linux to the mainstream desktop.
I wanted to post something
I wanted to post something but the Microsoft haters above made me decide it’s not worth it.
Be sure to include the many
Be sure to include the many enterprises who have tired of the retraining costs, year after year, beacuse of M$! Also include the many municipalities around the globe, and academic as well as supercomputing facilities, Gaming Companies, and the family dog, cat, mouse, gerbil…
Oddly, the website says
Oddly, the website says Windows 8.1’s End of extended support will be in 2023. That’s 3 years after Windows 7.
Perhaps M$ has another operating system they plan on releasing in 2018 or 2020.
So many questions… perhaps it’s a new OS that will be device specific where OS will no longer be purchasable as a custom install by itself, however, will be available on specific devices that you purchase?
Per PCper’s many reviews, right now, it seems Win8 would be the best option vs Win7 if you want to unlock most of your hardware’s performance (and get those extra short years for OS stability support).
As for Linux, there are still Windows software compatibility issue. Hence why many still are using WinXP.
The world will be cursed by nostalgia in the years to come.
Only beacuse M$ has not/will
Only beacuse M$ has not/will not backport any under the hood improvments to win 7, and do expect this to not be a problem with SteamOS, as well as other Linux distros! DX* is not going to be M$’s way of forcing its closed ecosystem on gamers, or the gaming industry. Say hello to the era of the OS as vital Infrastructure, not to be controlled by any single entity! This is especially true when you see companies like IBM bringing KVM to their PowerPC server platforms, and Google switching from an internal Linux distro, to the standard debian distro for their massive server/services Infrastructure. If M$ wants to become a Phone company, then let them, but not on my third party Desktop/Laptop property. Get Off of my lawn M$, go play TIFKAM somewhere else!!!
I don’t doubt microsoft has a
I don’t doubt microsoft has a new OS coming the big question is – will it be better than 8.1? that travesty of a os is hurting the product line and has placed a damper on computer sales.
when faced with buying a pc or a tablet – people look at the os- see the price when attached to a touchscreen and move to a tablet. they keep their old machine for word processing only
gamers would probably move to linux if the games were there
metro/modern needs to be gone from the desktop OS
Its Windows 9 –
Its Windows 9 – http://bgr.com/2014/03/06/microsoft-windows-9-release-date-2/
I understand the E.O.L.D.
I understand the E.O.L.D. (end of life/support date) concept. It was born from a time when massive updates of hardware rendered ‘old’ computer hardware/software obsolete. The expectations of consumers were that their old hardware can’t meet their desires of some new got-to-have computing experience. It was nurtured by Apple Corp’s leveraging by binding hardware/software together in such a way that ‘If you want the latest & greatest computing/entertainment/communication experience – then you pay the price of a new device hardware & software cycle’. M$ has to adopt this strategy of milking it customers for more money to stay in the game – let’s face it M$ & Apple are all really just corporations that rely on making money each fiscal quarter. They happen to derive that money from our desire to have computing/entertainment/communication devices that they have some hand in making available to us & we willingly fork out massive amounts of money that fuel their corporate profits.
I started off with Atari 800 computers – typing in binary files from magazines & compiling that code to get the latest & greatest hot program/entertainment running on a TV. I graduated to a Packard Bell 486 SX/20 (no math coprocessor – I couldn’t afford it) computer running MS-Windows 3.1. I liked the upgrade to the MS-Windows for Workgroups 3.11 operating system. I stood in line @ midnight at a local Egghead store to get my copy of MS-DOS 6.0. I have always ran any beta OS from Microsoft that I could get my hands on. I ran & supported many computers on MS-Windows XP (still use one of them every few days). I didn’t like MS-Vista all that much; but really for me it was more of a problem of running a poorly designed heavy laptop/tablet with an underperforming battery along with substandard graphics chip sets along with a minimal amount of RAM that doomed me to not relishing that experience. Even the vaulted MS-Win7 didn’t ‘fix’ any of that computer’s problems. I always try Apple products when I can afford them. Everything from Mac-Minis to MacBooks & iPods/iPads/iPhones I have used around here for various projects or computing needs. The iPods, iPads & iPhones are still in use daily. I run a few MS-Win7 computers also, I really like the Media Center features that blend together 4 each OTA HD TV tuners along with another 3 each networked Cable Card TV tuners to Verizon’s FiOS that routinely record 7 streams while I watch another recording or listen to some of my 20k MP3 (recorded @ up to 48/192 standards) recordings & watch a slide show of vacation photos from the 1970’s. I run the almost still-born MS-HomeServer 2011[14 TB of storage] currently as a ‘hog’ backup for the other 3 each Win7 computers that run most days here. This mixture of computers & devices keeps me busy with their ‘updates’ that seem to break the compatibility of my mash-up. It’s an intermittent battle to make it all work & sometimes I see features that I use disappear via an ‘upgrade’ that got me some new feature that I may or may not ever use. It’s headache as I use the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) as the litmus test of my computers humming along in harmony.
What M$ fails to recognize is that many of us have hardware/software combinations from 3-10 years ago that are serving us well for many uses. The hardware is lasting longer now (much better than computer components that I used from the 1990’s) & working well doing what we want it to do with Win7. I tried Win8 & it’s the first time that I really can say – NO THANKS M$, I went back to Win7 & I’m happy, more productive & saved a TON of money because I didn’t have to pay for the upgraded software (that I use daily) to get compatibility with Win8. There are programs that I found workarounds that were designed for WinXP & WinVista that I use weekly on those Win7 computers that I can’t find anyway to get them working under Win8 – thanks for MS-HomeServer 2011 – because it worked flawlessly to have me downgrade from Win8 to Win7 gracefully in just a couple of hours!
There will come a day soon that I want some new feature that Win7 isn’t going to support (maybe 4k HDTV broadcasts will be among the first things that my Win7 MediaCenter can’t handle gracefully?). Someday I will have to move forward, but really M$, can’t you give me some upgrade path that would give me those features that I want via your MarketPlace & still have it work in Win7? Is the X-Box/Win8/WinPhone combination really going to hold off Apple from gobbling all of your profits away? Can you join them in providing your branded hardware/software that we all will want, or will you end up being the ‘me-too’ company that has that something similar – not as good, but close enough & priced cheaper? Is the Cloud Service$ really what the home consumer really needs (check the prices on that) or with fast internet connections (such as VZ FiOS & others) – maybe it would be nice if my backups could be stored across the country on my sister’s computer systems & her backups could be stored on my computer systems? There is a great divide of what Home Consumers want/will pay for & what Business Customers want & what they will pay for. I guess that I can hope for another OS from M$ that I can grab on to & go with for the future, but for me M$-Win8.1 isn’t compelling enough to go with for most of my needs & the MarketPlace isn’t a compelling way for me to go forward. Time will tell, I hope we can have competition from a variety of companies and maybe see things from open-sources that can give the people what they want at a fair price.
“Users of Windows 7 will need
“Users of Windows 7 will need to be extra cautious and only deploy it in well controlled environments.”
Don’t you mean windows xp?
The first time I said XP. The
The first time I said XP. The second time, which you quoted, was referring to January 2020 at which point it will be Windows 7.
I had to read it twice
I had to read it twice myself, but I understood what you were saying. I hope there is something better than Windows 7 come 2020.
Whats wrong with windows-7?
Whats wrong with windows-7?
XP next year, windows 7 in
XP next year, windows 7 in 2020, but even XP, well past its EOL, can be safely run in a VM, isolated from the outside world, and running legacy code, as the Chinese and others, will be doing come XP’s EOL! Virtual machines (VMs), running a type 1 hyporvisor, and running Windows XP, 7, Linux, and other OSs simultaneously in their own protected VM environments, until thoes M$ based OSs are no longer needed, and are completely supplanted, by the New OS as a vital infrastructure, ISO distros that take M$’s place in the computing world! Say goodbuy to that company from Redmond, whos only claim to fame came at the coattails of IBM and the PC revolution of yore! So long M$, with your, copying the standard oil trust playbook, in the OS/enterprise software market, and your Ma Bell style attempt to turn 3rd party hardware into a M$, gets its cut of the action, TIFKAM playground.
With all these “Threshold”
With all these “Threshold” rumors being introduced, I will never buy a M$ OS that does not run WIN32/WIN64 full applications, as the default, the way windows 7 does it.
Any attempt by M$ to slip its App Store into the MIX, or any non removable app store Application/Service/runtime inside of a window, or any attempt at requireing me to register with the M$ app store, or to purchase all software through the M$ app store, will be seen as just another attempt at a failed forced closed ecosystem by M$, for the purposes of controlling my third party hardware! If M$ can not offer windows 7, with the under the hood improvments only, sans any tie ins with Phone/tablet OSs or closed ecosystems, and Any OS without me in total control of the what and where I get my full applications from, then M$ can kiss OFF! TIFKAM and its services/runtime/app store must not exist on any future OS that comes with any third party desktop/laptop hardware that I may purchase! I do not believe the M$ hype!
I don’t want windows 8 and
I don’t want windows 8 and that’s the end of it.
I always wanted to give it a
I always wanted to give it a try with Linux but these tries went no longer than fooling around with a live DVD for an hour or two and then get back to my XP were it felt like home after so many years.
Like a tourist who happily walks around at a new place but sooner than later will miss home whenever it may be
For a moment i thought like “upgarding” to win 7 but it did not take long to realise that this move does not solve the problem, it just moves it a bit further as there is NO WAY that i end eventualy using win 8
I happily moved from DOS to win 3.11 to win 98 to win Me and even more to win XP but after that it looks like a bad joke. Guys at MS you can not keep pace inovating new OSes that is ok with me but find another way to get my money
I would gladly “re-buy” win XP in some form beiing it called “extended support for another 5 years”, win XP II or whatever, with current features intergrated and support of cource. In short i am willing to pay a subscription/fee, whatever every let’s say 5 years for keeping my OS (essentialy the UI) and have its core current. I see no reason to through away so much hard aquired knowledge i have accumulated after so many years, for doing essentialy exactly the same thing that i did already. And on top of that having OS elements moved from the left to the right and vice versa without any real reason just to make the new OS look new and my life harder for nothing.
It would roughly be the equivelant of the auto industry moving the steering to the opposite side, make the throttle work by hand and the gearbox by a numeric pad and every 7-10 years keep moving them at other places and still the cars just get us where they always did in the same way as they already do right now!
If you can not inovate and make our life easier at least do not make it harder, we still pay to service our cars after we buy them, we could pay for core updates/upgrades for our OS but let the UI we know alone or offer a new one as an option as it is with KDE/Gnome/Xfce etc at Linux
The short story grew long, i ended with Ubuntu, were i felt like my grandma at my pc. For the first three days i did not know elementary thing like how to install a program, but after the 3rd day the transition goes from better to wonderful, to the point that after 15 days i begun laughing at those never ending dilemas, should i go to win 7 or win 8 or win 125..
I even realy wonder how i missed the opportunity to move to Linux earlier so many years
So thanks MS we had a great time together but after XP i could not keep up with you, you could not keep up with me, i do not know or care any more, i just feel like you cheated me
I have a new love now and i feel very happy about it
I am using win 3.11 yet…
I am using win 3.11 yet… well I love DOS.
I miss DOS, still use the
I miss DOS, still use the tidbits when I can.