Facepalm: It’s been almost two weeks since Microsoft officially ended its extended support for Windows 7, but the Redmond firm is introducing another free update for the OS that fixes a bug it introduced in the final public updates.
As reported by The Verge, one of Microsoft’s final free Windows 7 updates—KB4534310—is causing wallpaper problems for some users. After installation, an image can display as black when set to Stretch. The issue only appears to affect stretched wallpapers, fit, fill, tile, or center options still work normally.
Microsoft had initially said that the fix would only be available to organizations who pay the expensive Extended Security Updates (ESUs), but it has now decided to offer it for free to everyone running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
While the bug isn’t exactly a major one, the fact Microsoft introduced it just as the company stopped supporting non-paying Windows 7 users is a bad look. Pushing out the fix to everyone will help avoid some negative PR.
ESUs aren’t cheap. During the first year, those using Windows 7 Enterprise will pay $25 per machine. This doubles to $50 in the second year and goes up to $100 for the third year. It’s even more expensive for those using Windows 7 Pro. ESUs for this version start at $50 before going up to $100 in year two and $200 during year three.
Many businesses have been slow to migrate from Windows 7 to Windows 10, including the German government, which has to pay Microsoft around $886,000 for ESUs.
In other Windows 7 news, the Free Software Foundation is demanding that the OS be released as free software.
https://www.techspot.com/news/83729-microsoft-issuing-free-windows-7-fix-after-introducing.html
