Five years ago, Microsoft released a brand new and revolutionary operating system that sought to end the days of Windows XP. With nearly half of the computers in the world running Windows 7, it’s pretty obvious that Microsoft fulfilled that plan.
If you are running on a Windows 7 machine, Microsoft announced yesterday that mainstream support for the operating system ended yesterday January 13, 2015. Mainstream support contains free online and phone Microsoft support for third party application crashes as well as adding new features to the operating system.
In March of 2013, Microsoft stated that Windows 7 would no longer be receiving any more service packs and the operating system was stable enough to continue without updates, and two further trouble-free years use with nearly all businesses
running Windows 7 on their machines, confirms this.
running Windows 7 on their machines, confirms this.
Don’t panic if you’re still running on a Windows 7 machine, it won’t break today or tomorrow or the next day. Microsoft places a ten year support life on their software, with five years being mainstream and five years being extended.
Windows 7 will be placed into extended support until 1/4/2020, meaning users will receive security updates and nothing more, which is generally good enough for the basic user. “Patch Tuesday”, the second Tuesday of every month, will continue until the end of extended support. Businesses of course can always pay for software support on Windows 7.
The new Windows 8 and upcoming Windows 10 operating systems include a different look and feel, but are generally a good step in the right direction. With Windows 7 on the same path as Windows XP, we will still be seeing multiple machines running this five years old operating system for many more years to come.
