windows 7 has died. Microsoft’s operating system closed its life cycle stop receiving security updates. Although the technology company had confirmed its death in 2020, when it stopped releasing patches for the final consumer, companies would have two more years if they paid for extended support.
Today, January 10, 2023, is the day we can confirm the end of Windows 7. The Professional, Enterprise, and Professional for Embedded editions will no longer receive security updates. Although these versions of Windows were aimed at business customers, with a little time and the help of Google it was possible to access these patches.
The end of Windows 7 is not the only bad news, since Microsoft also announced the death of Windows 8. The company will stop providing updates for Windows 8.1, a version released almost 10 years ago that tried to solve the problems of its predecessor. Users of this operating system began receiving notifications to migrate to Windows 11 a year ago.
Although they say that every beginning has an end, some fans refuse to give up. In the entrances of Reddit where the end of Windows 7 is announced, is also discussed the possibility of migrating to Windows Embedded POSReady 7, the version designed for points of sale that is supported until October 2024.
Windows 7 was one of Microsoft’s most successful operating systems.
Although Windows XP is considered one of the most popular versions of Windows, the truth is that Windows 7 is on the podium. After betting on touch screens and forgetting about desktop computers, millions of users turned their backs on Windows 8 and never updated.
The popularity of this YOU It is maintained and proof of this is its market share in computers with Windows. According to data from stat counter, 11.2% of users globally still use Windows 7. It is followed by Windows 11 with 16.9% and Windows 10 in the lead with almost 68%.
Although some refuse to migrate to current versions, staying on Windows 7 would mean leaving yourself vulnerable to possible attacks. The fact that Microsoft does not release security updates for an operating system installed on millions of computers would motivate hackers to take advantage of the situation. Applications will also stop supporting this version of Windows.
One option would be upgrade to Windows 10, which ends support in 2025 and it is relatively cheap if we buy a key online. The hardware requirements are less aggressive than Windows 11 and the user experience is very similar to Windows 7. The only “bad” thing would be that it does not include the classic theme, although there are tutorials to activate it if you want to work like you did over a decade ago.