Official support for both Windows 7 and 8 ends in January, Microsoft Edge also losing...

[AlphaX]

The big picture: Released in 2009 and 2012, respectively, Windows 7 and Windows 8 had polar opposite receptions from consumers. The former was viewed on the same level as XP, whereas users viewed the latter as a major flop. Sadly, support for both operating systems officially ends next month.

The year is 2009. Nvidia's GTX 295 was ruling the graphics card market, Apple had recently released the iPhone 3G, and Microsoft had announced its newest operating system, Windows 7, to high amounts of consumer praise. Users finally felt like a suitable upgrade from Windows XP had arrived, and within two years, roughly 45 percent of PC owners had installed Windows 7 on their machines.

Fast forward three years, and along comes Windows 8. In case you've forgotten, Windows 8 launched without a start menu, instead focusing on a new, "modern" full screen tile design. To put its reception in context, Windows 8 barely gained a sliver of market share more than two years after its release.

Following massive negative response from users, Microsoft released Windows 8.1 just a year later. While the Windows 8.1 update improved the OS, the stigma surrounding Windows 8 remained. Windows 8.1 never gained more than 20 percent of the overall Windows market share, while Windows 7 and Windows 10 both managed higher adoption rates in only eight months.

 

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Windows Version Market Share

Microsoft offers two levels of support for its operating systems — "mainstream" and "extended."

Windows 7's mainstream support ended in January 2015, whereas its extended support ceased in January 2020. However, since Windows 7 still held nearly 25 percent of Windows installs, Microsoft offered an additional three years of support for a hefty fee.

Those additional years end on January 10, 2023, when the operating system will no longer receive updates. Meanwhile, for Windows 8, mainstream support ended in January 2018. Likewise, its extended support also ends on January 10, 2023.

Additionally, Microsoft recently announced that Microsoft Edge will no longer receive updates on both Windows 7 and Windows 8 platforms after January 12, 2023. Microsoft's Webview2, a tool that allows Edge to display web pages outside of the browser, also loses support following that date.

Microsoft is not alone in abandoning the outdated operating systems. In October, Google stated it would no longer support Chrome for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 after January 2023.

Overall, it is sad to see such a legendary operating system like Windows 7 finally arrive at its sunset. Users appear to be happy enough with it that even 13 years after launch, Windows 7 still holds a market share of over 10 percent. Windows 8, not so much, with only 2.5 percent as of November 2022.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/96941-official-support-both-windows-7-8-ends-january.html

 

[RudyBob]

So that be why Brave telling me no more updates

"a legendary operating system" At least it wasn't "iconic" Thanks for that

 

[Mr Majestyk]

7 = good, 8 = stab it through the heart. Still I'd had a lot less drama with 10 than I did with 7 and 7 was a lot better than XP. 11 is a hard pass, other than maybe on my older pc for testing.

 

[ZedRM]

Windows 8.1 never gained more than 19.1 percent of the overall Windows market share

WOW! It got that much? Very surprising.

I know people who are STILL using Windows 7. They don't seem to care that support is ending.

 

[nismo91]

Main reason I upgraded to Windows 11 was because the updates on Windows 10 are atrocious. even on a freshly installed machine, certain updates could take up to an hour and sometimes it just fails. I don't like the windows 11 taskbar (had to use third party solutions) but I'll take it, rather than occasionally finding my computer unusable because of the damn updates.

people who are still using windows 7, they don't really care about ending support. these are probably the same people who still uses windows xp when windows 8.1 came out.

 

[psycros]

Overall, Windows 7 is STILL the best OS that Microsoft ever produced despite the reprehensible new start menu and broken search function. If there was an alternative that was just as stable, could run most Windows programs natively and provide the same ease-of-use I suspect the exodus would be enormous.

 

[thelatestmodel]

7 = good, 8 = stab it through the heart. Still I'd had a lot less drama with 10 than I did with 7 and 7 was a lot better than XP. 11 is a hard pass, other than maybe on my older pc for testing.

8.1 with ClassicShell is / was objectively better than 7. It is faster, more secure, just as stable, and has more features than 7. It is better by every possible metric.

People's only issue with Windows 8 was the default interface (which was absolutely horrible), and ClassicShell just gives you the Windows 7 interface back, leaving you with an OS that's just better in every way.

10 is decent. 11 is looking pretty poor though, and I dread the day when people start getting forced to give up 10.

 

[Pop Mihai Ioan]

8.1 with ClassicShell is / was objectively better than 7. It is faster, more secure, just as stable, and has more features than 7. It is better by every possible metric.

People's only issue with Windows 8 was the default interface (which was absolutely horrible), and ClassicShell just gives you the Windows 7 interface back, leaving you with an OS that's just better in every way.

10 is decent. 11 is looking pretty poor though, and I dread the day when people start getting forced to give up 10.

8.1 with ClassicShell is still the best compromise between 7 and 10

 

[Burty117]

Such a strange amount of hate for Windows 11. It's actually better than Windows 10 in a lot of ways. Tabbed Explorer being my particular favourite at the moment.

 

[Geralt]

Move on with times, please. Don't be static. I have no problems with Windows 11, and in the future I'm going for the 12.

 

[MakeMSGreatAgain]

Move on with times, please. Don't be static. I have no problems with Windows 11, and in the future I'm going for the 12.

Let me show you the door, Sir.

 

[captaincranky]

I know people who are STILL using Windows 7. They don't seem to care that support is ending.

I'm still using it in 4 machines. (Actually 5, but I'm not so sure the board isn't borked).

Those of us still happy with Win 7, (I think) are the ones who shut down automatic updates before Win 10 was announced..

The final "cumulative security update", effectively bricks the OS. M$ has discontinued the "SP-1" download, and forces the former "cumulative" nonsense upon you.

Fun facts:
M$ will no longer allow you to activate OEM Win 7 with its original COA, even if it's the same board as originally installed. It's a "Win 7 phone home", massive aggravation".

The final update package reacts with web browsers based in Chrome, constantly blowing up warnings about how it "can't validate a servers certificate". This becomes absurd, when it won't allow you to navigate to Wikipedia or even Walmart, without an override.

In a last ditch effort to salvage my, "but this is the only machine I have to annoy people at Techspot with", I installed Mint Linux, and am now once again, happily trolling with erotic abandon.

Footnote:. For those of you have yet to be using SSDs. or even those who are, it's an absolute must to use Samsung SATA 2 1/2" (**) drive on C:/ Use their excellent migration software to clone the drive. put the 2nd drive in a drawer somewhere, and you'll, (with luck), never have to deal with M$ again.

(**) This assumes older boards without NMve ports

 

[Gezzer]

Move on with times, please. Don't be static. I have no problems with Windows 11, and in the future I'm going for the 12.

I remember hearing the exact same reasoning with Windows 8. "It's the future" and so on. As I see it there's a big difference between refining what works and replacing it just to be able to say it's "cutting edge". I don't really see Win11 having all that many benefits over Win10 other than locking the OS down. And that might in the long run be of much more benefit to M$ than end users. Want to be forced to get all your apps from the Windows store, and have side loading as the only way to actually own your PC? Win11 could easily be "upgraded" to make it just another mobile OS like Android.

 

[Feng Lengshun]

Ugh, the notification on the laptop given by my office has been annoying. Edge, GDrive, everything, they all keep telling me no more support.

Shut up, I know, I'd use Win10 and be done with it if I could, but it's a really old office laptop so that isn't even up to me.