Microsoft Ends Windows 7 Support, Freedom Hacker
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It’s True, Microsoft Kills Support for Windows 7, But Don’t Panic

Microsoft is ending mainstream support for the ever popular Windows 7 operating system, but don’t panic, your computer will still work and Microsoft will continue to fix security issues for the coming years.

Now what does this entirely mean? Microsoft will be ending free support for users who face issues with the Windows 7 operating system and will no longer update the UI or other aspects within Windows 7. Now this won’t phase many users as the past several years Windows 7 hasn’t received any major UI upgrades. Alongside that, not to many have ever taken advantage of Microsoft’s free online and phone support for the operating system.

Windows 7, introduced back in 2009 by Microsoft was single handily one of the companies most popular operating systems of all time, selling over 100 million copies in under six months time, aside from the well known Windows XP. In 2012 the operating system sold over 630 million licenses, surpassing %50.06 market share. Meaning over half of the worlds computers were running the Windows 7 operating system.

Succeeded by Windows 7 was Windows 8, released late October of 2012. By 2013 new years, the operating system had only sold 60 million licenses, coming nowhere near their predecessor.

Getting back to Windows 7, Microsoft has promised security patches for the next five years, stating they will officially end support January 14, 2020. Seeing as Microsoft ended extended support for Windows XP last year was huge, essentially closing down one of the largest operating systems in the world, universally used across a number of machines like ATMS and banks, which was still used by %27.69 of the worlds machines at their time of discontinuation.

Microsoft is said to end support for Windows Vista April of 2017, meaning 2 years from now possibly one of Microsoft smallest operating systems will officially meet its end.

As Microsoft will continue Windows 7 extended support to patch security vulnerabilities, many cybercriminals will stop exploiting older operating systems once they are discontinued. It is rare one will find cybercriminals exploiting Windows 98 or Windows XP vulnerabilities in present day. Seeing as how large Windows 7 was, it may not be the case for this operating system, but we have yet to know.

Set to succeed Windows 8.1 is Windows 10, why the company skipped the name Windows 9 remains undiscussed, but is set to release some time in this year, 2015.

The Technical Preview edition of Windows 10 was released to beta testers, security researchers, programmers among various other industry experts back in November 2014. The final release for the second half is set to release Mid 2015.

Microsoft is set to release a large announcement for Windows 10 January 21, 2014, and many hope the announcement is that Windows 10 will adopt Windows 7 older UI than the latest Windows 8, no start bar minimalist design.

Windows 8 mainstream support is set to end January 9, 2018, and their extended support for January 10 2023, nearly a decade away.

As Windows 7 mainstream support comes to and end, it may be a shock for some, but Microsoft has had it set publicly for several months prior, leaving is at no shock to many technical administrators.

Photo via COLLINS/Wikipedia [CC BY 3.0]

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3 Comments

  1. I have to say that I am very displeased Microsoft has chosen to end full support for Windows 7. It was predicated on an entirely fresh and amazingly seamless new experience for desktop users—something that I’m sure many of us end-users will agree was a mile-stone that we feel Microsoft finally got right with the entire OS-Build as a whole——-and now they won’t even offer extended support for it after 5 more years?!

    I’m sorry but IMHO Microsoft has chosen to drop Windows 7 way too soon!

    After all the hiccups and bugs that plagued the many builds prior to the release of Win7, when it was released it was the breath of fresh air that many pc-users the world over had long been waiting for and whom, the majority of, have now eagerly adopted with open-arms because of it finally being stable enough to facilitate a decent desktop experience.

    Windows 7 still has a multitude of potential with various business and educational applications alike and is still highly favored among pc-users in the Windows community.

    After all the heartaches we also put up with regarding Windows Media Player——-that too seems to be finally void of the hang-ups and crashes so prevalent in the builds prior to Win 7.

    With all that Windows 7 still brings to the table and considering the fact that it has been aggressively adopted as a trust-worthy desktop operating system by a large percentage of residential and business-users alike——–it baffles me completely that Microsoft would choose to get rid of something that essentially works great and still offers plenty of modern capabilities through a build that has proven its stability and stood the test of time thus far.
    The technology Windows 7 is built upon is far superior to that of all its predecessors—yet somehow Microsoft expects us to believe that it’s absolutely necessary to now get rid of it?!

    I don’t like this one bit!

    Microsoft has a history of dropping the ball right when things seem to be working out for the better——-and now it wants to drop one of the best working desktop operating systems it has ever created to date——-all for the sake of a few technological advances, that aren’t even garnering that much appeal for the everyday computer user that just needs a solid system that works?!

    Instead of steam-rolling the perfectly fine-working Windows 7 product and effectively dismantling it so soon after its huge success——-wouldn’t it have done some good to keep Windows 7 around for a lot longer than any of its shoddy predecessors, simply due to its amazing success alone?!——-Never mind the fact that it really is a solid operating system that, again, still has loads of potential.

    I think Microsoft is being very, very, and dare I say it again, Very Unfair with regard to the length of time it has sought not to keep Windows 7 as a viable contender and sustainable software product!

    This comes down to a few things in my opinion:

    1) Maybe the NSA really has a choke-hold on Microsoft, despite any fronts the company itself might maintain for the public in front of the camera’s…

    2) Maybe Microsoft is finally realizing how lazy it is because it no longer wants to spend the necessary time to develop and test solid updates that don’t crash and burn users systems as has been so typical of them in recent years…

    3) They really don’t care all that much about the consumer but instead care more about their profitability at our expense and thus could care less if they keep forcing us to buy a new product, even though the one we already possess works just fine the way it is…

    Whatever response Microsoft will give to this reply, there is nothing it can say to convince me to change my mind from the fact that they’ve decided to pull the plug on this one way too soon…

    What a low-down dirty shame, if you ask me!

    And now, since I seem to not have any choice but to morn over this soon to be huge loss, I’ve already started working on my sincerest condolences for the up and coming death of my beloved Windows 7 platform…

    “I’m so sorry Win7…you were like my new best friend in the whole world…but now I’m afraid you’ve been diagnosed with a disease called Microsoft-aphylococcus and you will soon die. Please know you will always be remembered for the good times we had…”

    R.I.P. Windows 7 — Rest In Peace : ( : ( : (

  2. I wholeheartedly agree. There is still so much you can do with Windows 7 and it is definitely way more stable than XP or Vista ever was.

    Even if they wanted to keep pushing their new products, Windows 7 should remain around for at least as long as they kept XP around——-even longer than that in my opinion. A lot can be learned by continuing to make use of the Windows 7 platform and for those whom will continue to use desktops, Microsoft should allow for users to still be able to make that choice.

    They are effectively killing the desktop experience and everything it means to be a true IT professional and essentially saying by their actions that they don’t want people to build their own computers anymore. That’s another reason they’ve pushed so hard with Windows 8 despite it’s bad reception by many, Microsoft still wants to force us to do its will and not the will of the people. This has always been their Achilles heel.

    I mean really, we’re not talking about the difference between the first car that was ever built and the modern luxury-style sedan so common on the roads today. IMHO there just isn’t that much of a disparity between Windows 7 and Windows 10 to justify its departure so soon.

    Ulterior motives by Microsoft?——-maybe. A desire by Microsoft to capitalize on a poor and restless society whom it knows is too down-trodden to fight back, never its comparatively smaller cache of resources——-most definitely!

    I think that everyone feels like the gig is up on Microsoft’s strong-arm approach to updating the OS, which is undoubtedly why they remove consumer choice from that equation in the new Windows 10.

    My friends this is just another game of cat and mouse they are playing with us. The unfortunate reality is that we are the mice and will always have to be on the lookout for this hungry cat…

    1. Never really looked at it that way, very interesting approach and I can defiantly agree on a number of points. Windows 7 should stay around for the long haul as it is one of Microsoft’s most user friendly yet capable operating system in the Windows category.

      Microsoft’s gig has been long gone, it’s just the question of when it will finally end.