Windows 7 has started its long journey to the dustbin: The operating system is, as of today, no longer eligible for free help and support from Microsoft.
It’s not exactly going to blink out of existence anytime soon, however.
Windows 7 still powers more than half of the computers running Windows. Users of the software will still receive security patches from Microsoft, but technical support and non-essential updates now come with a cost attached. Microsoft plans to phase out those programs in 2020.
The beginning of the end for the popular Windows 7, released in 2009, comes as Microsoft gets set to unveil the latest version of its flagship product. Microsoft is expected to offer more details on Windows 10 at a press event in Redmond next week, with general availability expected sometime in the second half of this year.
Microsoft hopes that it can make Windows 10 attractive enough to the millions of users happy with Windows 7 that they’ll opt to upgrade. That could be a tough sell for Microsoft’s business clients, many of whom only recently upgraded to Windows 7 from 2001’s Windows XP.
There’s a circle of life aspect to this cadence, too. Some individuals and businesses jumped from Windows XP to Windows 7 because Microsoft last year stopped supporting XP.
Gregg Keizer at Computerworld has an interesting analysis of Windows 7 at this midlife moment.
Source Article from http://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/01/13/microsoft-drops-free-support-for-windows-7/?syndication=rss http://img.youtube.com/vi/8zLx_JtcQVI/0.jpg
Microsoft drops free support for Windows 7
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