Microsoft To Discontinue Windows 7 and 8 By October 2016
On a mission to secure a goal of having Windows 10 power 1 billion devices, Microsoft’s “Window’s life cycle fact sheet” shows us that October 31st 2016 could be the last day for sales of PCs pre-installed with Windows 7 professional or Windows 8.1. This means, that post the given date, all new computers will come with Windows 10 pre-installed. However, businesses with license agreements which entitle them to choose whichever version they prefer can continue working on Windows 7 or 8.1.
This deadline is probably not the best news for users who have become comfortable with the Windows 7 and have been procrastinating the update to Windows 10. Microsoft will however benefit from this deadline, because they will finally be able to tie together PCs and other devices with apps that can run on all the devices.
Microsoft usually sets their end-of-sales date for each version of Windows after two years of the release of a new version. However, since Windows 8 didn’t receive the best of responses, Windows 7 continued to be available. This privilege may not be available anymore because of the positive response that Windows 10 has mustered up.
But, for users who really want to continue with the Windows 7, technical support has been extended up to January 14th, 2020 for all users and up till January 10th 2023 for Windows 8 users. As of now, Windows 10 is available as an “optional update” on all PCs, however, early next year, reports suggest that it could become a “recommended update”.
Windows 10 is slowly finding acceptance, so Microsoft is probably just trying to make things easier for themselves and their users. All we can do is watch and wait for the response.
