Microsoft ends free support for Windows 7

Today is the day that Microsoft ends free support for its ageing Windows 7 operating system, despite the majority of PCs around the world still running it.

Glad my new one has 8.1. But, the question is, how long will MS give free support for that?

Story @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...icrosoft-ends-free-support-for-Windows-7.html

 

And how many people actually need to use such support?

All this means is that they will no longer be giving support along the lines of major upgrades and new features (such as IE upgrades). They will still continue to support it security wise (as in patches) at least until 2020.

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

Windows support is generally 5 years for general support, 10 years for total support. So for Windows 8, expect to see all general support end in 2018, extended support to end in 2023.

 

As soon as Microsoft finds out that Windows 8.1 works, they will call it obsolete.

Windows 7 was the best operating system Microsoft ever produced, it worked and still works. This is why these young nerds in the Silicon Valley who can't even change a flat tire decided that if it works, it has to be obsolete.

If Microsoft were have been around during the 1890's, we would still be riding horses today but there would be a new buggy whip coming out every few years.

 

>"After 12 years, support for Windows XP ended April 8, 2014. There will be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system. It is very important that customers and partners migrate to a modern operating system such as Windows 8.1..."<
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/end-of-support.aspx

 

And that was over 2 years longer then they had said they would give such support.

 

Well, I was sure as heck glad for Microsoft support yesterday for my 8.1.

I was on the net and all of a sudden got a message that my PC was restarting for important updates. I saw the message of installing 1 of 1 and don't shut off before it finished.
Well, it did the usual stuff and I waited until the 8.1 start screen showed, and hit enter. It took me to my sign-in page and, when I finished entering my password and hit return - NO DESKTOP!!!

Nothing.

Just a cursor I could move all over the place with no response!

Nothing.

I restarted it three more times with no results. Finally called Dell support and they walked me through a very interesting and complicated series of things to do in order to restore the system,.I just hop to heck I can remember it if it happens again.

She was from the Philippines but I did manage to understand enough to get back to here.

 

XP is was old but most business including most of the banks in America used XP.

Windows 8 under the hood is nothing but Windows 7 at least that's what Leo Laporte says.

I tried Windows 8 and don't like it and it seems the majority say the say thing.

Last year I found some brand new ACER laptops that had Windows 7 installed. I almost purchased one. Now I'm glad I didn't.

Now we have Windows 10 being released !!! I wonder when Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 8 ? Probably as soon as they get Windows 8 to work or be accepted like Windows 7. If it works, it must be obsolete. If it's new, it must be better. We see the same thing in the military with some don't we ?

 

Actually, Vista-7 share most of the same code base. And 8 is an offset of that code base.

However, the biggest hate for most people on 8 was not the OS itself, but it's interface. I myself absolutely despised it, made me feel like my computer had suddenly become dumbed down to the level of a tablet. Now Apple is able to get away with doing things like that, but not Microsoft.

Many businesses stuck with XP for so long because of the availability of other software they needed. When you run a company IT, it is not only the OS you have to worry about, but the servers, the infrastructure, and all of the other software that you will likely have to upgrade. Moving from XP to 7 normally required a change in 5-25+ other programs, from Word and Outlook to specialty ones like AutoCAD, Mathcad and literally millions of other programs that required a new version when moving from XP to 7 (or sometimes having to research and juts replace the program because it was no longer made).

Now how long will support for 8 last? Around 10 years after it was first released.

 

Slightly off topic. I've communicated with call centres in the Philippines a few times for various products, always found the folks delightfully helpful.

 

the only time I ever called ms support, they could not help me, was easier to rebuild the pc...... free support, you get what you pay for

 

when they stop patching the OS, that is when the OS is dead

 

Wait when you find yourself speaking to someone in India.

 

You can still get support for your Windows XP system. You just need to edit the registry so it appears as an embedded OS. The core differences are minimal if any.

 

Literally, the only times I ever called them in my 30+ years of working in IT was to get serial numbers verified. I have used MSDN support (both MS and other IT professionals) several times for various issues, but for the most part I was able to get any solutions I needed on my own.

The biggest for example was when I was at DirecTV. We were planning a migration from WFW 3.11 to NT 4, and the bean counters were insisting that we save money by keeping our older Microsoft Office with Word 6.0. We could never make it work, used all of the resources with MSDN and other technical forums and they all said the same thing, "It will not work". And we had similar issues from everything from our E-mail system (Lotus Notes if I remember right) and our SHIVA servers. Bean counters wanted to use the old software, us in IT said they had to upgrade.

Finally the bean counters won and the switch was thrown, all computers upgraded to NT4. And it was a nightmare. Probably 2/3 of the software either did not work or had serious issues. Eventually a crash program was instituted with a changeover to Win2K, and all software upgraded to be the newest version. This solved all of the problems, but it was a costly lesson.

Now all companies spend months if not years researching and testing their software on the new platform before they make a change. For a home user this is much less critical, but many times older programs still do not work on a new OS. I literally have a box full of old programs, many of them I love but am not able to use because they do not work past 3.1-98-XP.

Heck, to this day I still occasionally run across companies that use DOS, Windows 3.1 and XP simply because the machine runs a critical program that is not available in any other operating system. About 7 years ago it was 2 industrial ones. One was to run a digital sewing machine to do custom patterns that required 98, the other was a water etching tool for stone that required 3.1. The stone etcher company was out of business (it had folded in 1996) and they were not throwing away a $25,000 piece of equipment because it was old. The sewing machine company had declared the machine was obsolete and had not supported it in almost a decade (the program started as 3.1, the owner had upgraded to the 95 version but they never upgraded it to XP). She also was not willing to spend $5,000 just to buy a new sewing machine.

And when I worked at US Borax, most of the mining machines that were digital were all running on DOS. We upgraded them to newer computers, but ran the old OS because the cost of completely rewriting the program to run a single machine (like a 1/2 mile long conveyer and hopper filler) was not justified.

These are all software issues, and MS will be able to give you no help at all there. "Call the creator of the program" is all they can really say if "Use the compatibility mode" does not work.

 

Actually, they are huge.

This is why for example the entire nForce 3 and Creative Labs SoundBlaster Pro and Audigy lines would not work at all on Vista. Huge amounts of programs and hardware were made obsolete overnight because they were not compatible with Vista.

This may not be a major problem to most people, but if you run a 200 system IT department and all of your computers run on an nForce 3 chipset, you were SOL in moving to Vista (or 7 or 8 ) until you replaced your motherboards.

Vista-7 was almost a complete rewrite of the code from XP. Most things still worked fine, but a great many also did not. I have an awesome professional level SB card that is now in a box because it took almost 2 years for Creative Labs to create new drivers. By that time I had simply pulled it out because I was not doing professional sound editing anymore.

 

And I mentioned anything about Windows Vista where again?

Windows XP and Windows XP embedded share the same core. The difference is the added components such as Windows Explorer, which the embedded version does not have unless it is specifically installed.

 

as long as they don't need internet access, those OS still work fine

 

And what percentage of computers are not on the Internet in 2015? 1%? 2%? 5%?

 

You techies are so over my head that it's dizzying!

But the mention of DOS took me back. Way back,.

My first computer was an Apple II clone. I remember powering up and having to go through a series of DOS commands in order for it to boot up. Floppy disks. No mouse. Dot matrix printer. And a dial up modem.

 

forced changes keep them in a job.....

 

Or that's when it's FIXED. (I know, it's never happened..... but we can dream, right?)

 

There are many computers out there running a "dead OS". If you don't like Windows, then download Linux.

 

At my place of business, over 50% are not on the internet, nor do they need to be.

 

I use Linux too, my Android phone is Linux, my Android tablet is Linux, my Tivo is Linux..... I have no issues with Linux


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many are not on-line

there are some places that should not be, Nuclear power plants being one.....

anywhere\any device where there is no benefit to being "online", why have the risk of having it on-line

I do not want my car engines computers controlled from on-line, gas pedal, breaks, ect.... do you?


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