On July 22 back in 2009,
Microsoft released a new PC operating system as a successor to its then
less-than-3-year-old Windows Vista. This was Windows 7, one of the most
successful Windows OS versions in its development history. It was praised by
users for fixing certain shortcomings perceived in Vista, and praised for its
incredible visual presentation. It was no surprise that Win-7 managed to remain
ubiquitous even in the wake of its own follow-up, Windows 8 and 8.1; even
Windows 10 took several years to become more common than 7, and that is because
its support period was ending.
As The Verge tells us, Microsoft has now officially ended all
technical support for their Windows 7 computer operating system, over a decade
after its introduction. To be specific, what had ended was the extended support
phase for Win-7 which was terminated on Tuesday, January 14. Mainstream support
for this still-prominent OS already ended four years ago, on January 13 of
2015. For all intents and purposes, Microsoft is no longer mandatorily doing
anything in official capacity for Windows 7, meaning its security features and systems
will no longer be automatically updated. That will leave Win-7 computers with increasing
vulnerabilities.
Now, this does not mean a
complete end to Microsoft keeping their now three-versions-behind OS viable.
They will still be offering extended security updates for users who still have
Windows 7 on their computers. However these measures must be paid for. Depending
on what edition of Win-7 is concerned, users might have to pay from $25 to $50
per machine this year (2020) for the security updates, and the charges will
automatically double by next year (2021) and for every succeeding year
thereafter. Microsoft is offering users with already-registered Windows 10
computer accounts to have free “post-retirement” updates on their computers
which still run Win-7.
Windows 7 counts among the very
last Microsoft operating systems that are released as-is, in distinct versions
with occasional upgrades that become obsolete with the next numbered OS released.
The trend has been changed with Windows 10, which is being marketed more as a “service”
rather than a software product, with period “build” updates while retaining the
Win-10 identity for years on. Though even with end of support, Windows 7
continues to be present on nearly 28% of traditional PC devices as of November
2019. It is expected to stick around for some time yet.
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