Windows 7 licenses and PCs won't be sold beyond October 2016

[Scorpus]

Following Windows 10's largely successful launch over the past couple of months, Microsoft has quietly updated their Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet to include the end of sales date for Windows 7 licenses and PCs: October 31, 2016.

Microsoft has given OEMs an unusually long time to produce Windows 7 devices, and that's mostly down to Windows 8's mediocre reception and launch period. Normally the company would set an end of sales date for an old version of Windows around two years after the launch of its successor (eg. Windows Vista ceased being sold in 2011, two years after the launch of Windows 7), but Windows 7 has been given an extended shelf life.

Even now, it's possible to walk into a retailer and find Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 machines on the shelves, which is not the norm for the Windows ecosystem. However, from October 31, 2016, Microsoft will only allow Windows 10 devices to be sold, which also brings a close to the Windows 8 era slightly ahead of schedule.

While Windows 7 and Windows 8 won't be sold beyond October next year, Microsoft will continue to support the operating systems until 2020 and 2023 respectively. This means the operating systems will continue to receive security patches and some bug fixes for at least four more years.

But if you're after a new machine running Windows 7, rather than Windows 10, you'd better get in quick before the stock disappears from shelves for good.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/62641-windows-7-licenses-pcs-wont-sold-beyond-october.html

 

[Axiarus]

Gatta get everyone on 10 so they can mine that info.

 

[Techman3]

At least it's still supported for a while yet.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Currently the Windows 10 free upgrade term will expire before the sales of Windows 7 come to an end. And at some point before all of this Windows 10 becomes a recommended update instead of an optional update. Is it me or does this timeline really not make any sense?

 

[Sean T]

Fix typo in first sentence. Should read "Following Windows 10's largely ...."

 

[psycros]

Currently the Windows 10 free upgrade term will expire before the sales of Windows 7 come to an end. And at some point before all of this Windows 10 becomes a recommended update instead of an optional update. Is it me or does this timeline really not make any sense?

Nothing about how Microsoft has handled Windows 10 makes any sense.

 

[DjKraid]

Licenses are overrated anyway. I boguth w7 home premium (family pack, 3 licenses) soon after w7 came out. After that I have done 2 major hardware changes (upgraded to a SSD, changed mobo and cpu) which means that I have had to reinstall windows over and over again. In addition to this I have several times managed to f-up my computer which have ultimately lead to a few clean reinstallations. Anyhow, that's just my main computer...my fiances computer has got windows installed twice and then her brothers computer has got it installed twice too and at this point Microsoft has disabled the activation which means that we can't activate our windows anymore. I called microsoft support and they said that they can't do anything because it has been activated too many times...
So why bother with a license when you can't use it?

Semi-off-topic
Lets not forget those who bought Office XP, the activation process has been disabled on that too so can't do anything with the software anymore...

 

[Adhmuz]

Licenses are overrated anyway. I boguth w7 home premium (family pack, 3 licenses) soon after w7 came out. After that I have done 2 major hardware changes (upgraded to a SSD, changed mobo and cpu) which means that I have had to reinstall windows over and over again. In addition to this I have several times managed to f-up my computer which have ultimately lead to a few clean reinstallations. Anyhow, that's just my main computer...my fiances computer has got windows installed twice and then her brothers computer has got it installed twice too and at this point Microsoft has disabled the activation which means that we can't activate our windows anymore. I called microsoft support and they said that they can't do anything because it has been activated too many times...

I've had to call and get customers copies reactivated when I use to work at a PC repair shop, it was generally pretty painless, takes some time but they always reactivated the serial. I even had a friend call in with a fake serial and had it activated almost as easily... Personally on my machines I've changed hardware and reinstalled so many times I couldn't imagine going through the motion every time, for every machine running Windows 7.

So why bother with a license when you can't use it?

My thoughts exactly. At least the update that checks for activation seems to have been removed from windows updates, or it's just not catching my activator anymore.

 

[Dch48]

It should have already been cut off months ago. There should be no new machines being sold with the outdated Win 7 installed.

 

[Ascaris]

It should have already been cut off months ago. There should be no new machines being sold with the outdated Win 7 installed.

Microsoft made the same mistake you have when they introduced Windows 8. They forgot that it is about what the customer wants, not what Microsoft wants, or what they consider "outdated." If it does what people want it to do, it's not outdated.

Microsoft forgot that with 8, and because of that, they've ended up having to give away its replacement.

While Microsoft is pushing 10 as hard as they can, they have to respond to market forces-- and they do this by continuing to offer Windows 7, despite their desperate wish to get everyone onto the Windows 10 bandwagon. If 10 was half as good as MS claimed, there'd be scant demand for 7, but if people are asked which one they prefer, it's not 8(.1) or 10.

The basic problem with 8(.1) was (and is) that it is neither fish nor fowl; it is neither a dedicated tablet/phone OS nor a dedicated desktop OS. It was designed to push people into the Microsoft "ecosystem," particularly with regard to their mobile market, which is eight or so years behind Google and Apple. Windows 10 is simply a second (and more strident) attempt at the same thing.

Microsoft may think Windows 7 is outdated because it doesn't try harvest data about me to sell to advertisers (in part because I can permanently reject updates that try to change that, which you can't with 10), nor does it attempt to get me to buy a Windows tablet, Xbox, Office, OneDrive, various apps from "partners," or anything else. To me, those characteristics of 7 are not problems-- they are features, and these are features I will not do without.