Officially, the only version of Windows that you can purchase standalone is Windows 10. Sales of Windows 7 ended on October 31st, 2013, and retail availability Windows 8.x ended on September 1st. Unofficially, you can find SKUs available on Amazon and elsewhere for both of these versions, and in several different editions.
PCs with Windows pre-installed follow their own calendar, though. Almost two years ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 PCs will be available until October 31st, 2014, with an extension for Windows 7 Professional that will be at least 12 months after… whenever they decide to announce the date. They announced the date a few days ago and, you guessed it, it's 12 months from then: October 31st, 2016. They also announced that PCs with Windows 8.1 pre-installed will have the same end of sales date.
So basically, you can only purchase Windows 10 now, and PCs will only have it pre-installed after October 31st, 2016… officially.
unless M$ remove their
unless M$ remove their spyware & forced updates in 2 years windows 7 will be the most popular “illegitimate” OS.
Stuff the free upgrade. I’d rather pay for w10 if it got rid of forced updates and data collecting…
You got all the spyware also
You got all the spyware also in win7 and 8 through updates
From what I heard these weren’t blockabel
They are blockable.
They are blockable.
They are block-able in 7,
They are block-able in 7, just do not install any updates not listed as Security updates, uncheck the non security updates and hide them in 7. But with 10 and that EULA, you are never sure what M$ will be forcing down your throat! Things that are turned off by the user can be turned back on come next forced update! M$ has the rights to your first born if you accept the terms of that windows 10 Draconian EULA. 10’s EULA is a deal with the Devil that will put you between M$ and the deep blue sea! It’s a long way down off that cliff into that cold water to get away from 10’s EULA if you agree to its terms!
Automatic updates are turned
Automatic updates are turned off on all the 30odd machines I look after at work now. I had to after the push of KB3035583. Internet suddenly stopped one day as all the machines were trying to download windows 10. We only have a 4mb/s download rate!
With that knowledge I ordered
With that knowledge I ordered 2 more W7 licenses already. Who needs WU? It can be done by hand, with stuff you really need.