Windows 7 Bye Bye
Windows 7 will no longer be able to be as a preinstalled OS in PCs. Microsoft has announced that it will no longer sell the operating system. After a look at Microsoft’s announcement in the Windows life cycle fact sheet it has been noticed that costumers will be forced to install windows 8.1.
The company also state the last day for selling Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate and Professional was 31st October, but Microsoft has not given an expiry date to PCs preinstalled with Windows 7 Professional.
| Client operating systems | Latest update or service pack | End of mainstream support | End of extended support |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Windows XP |
April 14, 2009 |
April 8, 2014 |
|
|
Windows Vista |
April 10, 2012 |
April 11, 2017 |
|
|
Windows 7 * |
January 13, 2015 |
January 14, 2020 |
|
|
Windows 8 |
January 9, 2018 |
January 10, 2023 |
This table gives end of sales dates for specific Windows operating systems.
| Client operating systems and updates | Date of general availability | Retail software end of sales * | End of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Windows XP |
December 31, 2001 |
June 30, 2008 |
October 22, 2010 |
|
Windows Vista |
January 30, 2007 |
October 22, 2010 |
October 22, 2011 |
|
Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate |
October 22, 2009 |
October 31, 2013 |
October 31, 2014 |
|
Windows 7 Professional |
October 22, 2009 |
October 31, 2013 |
Not yet established |
|
Windows 8 |
October 26, 2012 |
October 31, 2014 |
Not yet established |
|
Windows 8.1 |
October 18, 2013 |
Not yet established |
Not yet established |
Table Source:Microsoft Webpage
But even if you have an unsupported version of Windows XP or Windows Vista without any service packs, Windows will continue to start and run.The company has also discontinued selling boxed retail copies of Windows 8 despite being released in 2012.
