Sorry, Microsoft Has Finally Stopped Support for Windows 7, 8, and eight.1

Poor, beleaguered Windows 7, 8, and eight.1 are actually formally strolling the Elysian Fields of lifeless working techniques as Microsoft that the end of its support for them lastly arrived on Tuesday.

Though the OS will proceed to operate, the tip of help means 8.1 will not obtain any software program or safety updates. It additionally means the corporate received’t present any technical help for both working system. Windows 8 got here out again in 2012, however the firm launched its 8.1 patch only a 12 months later to handle criticisms like a scarcity of a Start button and a scarcity of customization. That OS was lastly succeeded by Windows 10 simply three years later.

But greater than that, Jan. 10 is the day that Microsoft is really ending any and all help for 8’s rather more widespread youthful brother, Windows 7.

Three years in the past virtually to the day, Microsoft formally introduced it could stop doing software updates for Windows 7, an OS that initially got here out in 2009. Still, the corporate did provide a hand with its Extended Security Updates (ESU) service for folks working Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise. Still, these prolonged safety patches didn’t embody Microsoft Support, and customers needed to pay to enroll in the service. Windows 8.1 received’t be seeing any prolonged safety help, seemingly as a result of 8 proved to be a a lot much less widespread model of the OS than 7.

Of course, each working techniques will nonetheless run on computer systems, however a scarcity of software program patches does open up loads of vulnerabilities. The final patch Windows 7 acquired for ESU clients was back in December.

At the tip of 2020, ZDNet reported there have been nonetheless tens of millions of computer systems working Windows 7 regardless that Microsoft ended full help. Official analytics from U.S. authorities businesses beforehand steered that 8.5% of federal laptop techniques had been nonetheless working Windows 7 three years in the past. The latest numbers from Sunday present there are nonetheless over 33,000 federal laptop techniques working 7. Similarly, there are over 18,000 federal techniques working Windows 8 or 8.1.

In the meantime, adoption of Windows 11 has been fairly sluggish for Microsoft’s tastes. Analytics agency Statcounter reported on the tail finish of final 12 months that the most recent OS accounts for slightly below 17% of Windows market share. It barely beat out Windows 7, which claimed 11%. Last 12 months, the corporate included a host of latest options for the OS, together with new accessibility and security measures, however that also hasn’t made sufficient of a case for the 68% of Windows 10 customers to lastly make the change.