Mainstream Support for Windows 7 is Ending - Is It a Cause for Panic?

Windows 7 was introduced way back in 2009 and since then it has been an integral part of mainly desktop PC running within Windows ecosystem. Developed under the codename ‘Blackcomb,’ Windows 7 was primarily intended to be an incremental upgrade to address criticisms faced by its predecessor, Windows Vista. Later, the company incorporated several amazing features such as performance improvements, support for virtual hard disks, a new version of Windows Media Center, redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities to make it a new OS altogether. Featuring a similar appearance like that of Vista, Windows 7's interface was more streamlined and is nicely paired up with a redesigned taskbar that offers capability to pin applications to it.

The sad update by the company

In a recent press conference, Microsoft has announced that mainstream support for Windows 7 products will be ending on 13th January 2015, almost five months later. This sad revelation by the company has left the Windows XP users worried, who were thinking to shift themselves back to Win 7. The official support of XP ended in April 2014 making many users to switch to the Windows 7 for meeting their personal, work, and entertainment requirements.

The company said the official support and technical assistance has been withdrawn from Windows XP, however, Windows 7 will just experience a stop in Service Packs and introduction of new features. Unlike Windows XP, this operating system will receive the Extended Support, including new security patches and performance improvements, until the 14th January 2020.

What is the current picture and how Windows 7 users can manage?

Microsoft holds a strong position in the OS market, but the recent activities of the company are making the users a bit confused about possessing a Windows system in future. The company has recently announced the end of mainstream support for Windows 7, which has crossed the sale of over 630 million licenses in 2012.

As per a recent update, the company will provide performance improvements and service pack support for the OS till 2020, but mainstream support for several key products will end in 2015. After the final cut-off support for Windows XP, the Windows users are rapidly disappearing or are opting for other OSes, which might cost a bit higher but deliver optimal support.

Tech experts have commented on the situation by stating that ending the official support for popular Windows OSes is the company’s strategy to force users to upgrade to Windows 8 and above. Here comes the question that “Did users want the firm enhance its product’s lifecycle and provide longer support for the most popular products?” Well, the answer will always be a mixed response as some users want to stick to their old OSes while others may love to experiment with the latest technology.

What did the statistics say and how the company is loyal to its customers?

The date of the end of the mainstream support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 has been released and every tech user is a bit worried because of the announcement made by the company. The company has a clear support lifecycle policy, which reveals that the company will offer minimum of a 10 years of support for Business and Developer products. This tenure will include mainstream support offered for five years, which has already been ended in 2013.

According to the statistics, Windows 7 was introduced on 22 October 2009 hence, Microsoft should have ended the mainstream support for it during the past year. But the company is being slightly generous with the dates and decided to end it up in the beginning on 2015.

What will be the market scenario after January 2015?

Windows 7 users should not create panic for this update by the company as from January 2015 onwards, the OS will enter its extended support phase. During this phase, the company will deliver free security fixes for the platform, but will not be able to add up some new features to it. According to the statistics from Net Applications, Windows 7 currently holds 50.55% share of the total OS market and the experts say that it will experience some downfall in the near future. Post January 2015, the company will not offer any technical assistance for bug fixes to any of the non-security related issues and will not add any additional features to the software.

What issues Microsoft's business customers will face, once the mainstream support will end?

According to various technology websites, Windows 7 is one of the preferred choices of business users when it comes to offering an OS platform with simple UI and advanced features. Microsoft's business customers will be largely affected by the end of Windows 7 mainstream support and will migrate onto the latest OS versions offered by the company. Since the company has established itself for offering an amazing OS platform to cater business requirements, the business customers will adopt their latest products rather than choosing others.

This recent announcement is a wake-up call for all those Windows 7 business users, who thought of operating smooth business activities with the help of this amazing OS. The company has clearly mentioned that the official support will be ending for this OS in another five years i.e. in 2020. The announcement of extended support phase is a clue for all business customers to start planning for selecting another OS for their smooth business operations, within a year or two.

What Windows 7 users want and what is company’s response on it?

At this point, many users wanted Microsoft to extend the mainstream support for Windows 7, like the company did with Windows XP in the past. The support for XP was scheduled to be withdrawn in 2009, but the company carried it forward till 2014, nearly 12 years after the platform was released. In addition to this, Windows 7 is often regarded as ‘the new XP,’ hence, users don’t want to lose this efficient OS platform that is suitable for home, work, and play.

Some industry observers have commented on the company’s decision by stating the mainstream support for Windows 7 should be delayed till the uptake of Windows 8.1. Tech geeks have also explained the whole situation by saying that since Windows 8.1 has been introduced last year, so it hasn’t been tested on various performance factors.

In an answer to that, the company said that offering free support for older platforms is a waste of resources that’s why Microsoft has already ended the support for XP. The company’s spokesperson also added that users should head towards the Windows 8.1 Update, the latest OS by the company, to receive optimal future security fixes.

Conclusion

Many organizations and individual end users are quite unhappy with the decision of the company, however, Microsoft clearly mentioned the product’s lifecycle on their official website. The end support announcement should not create much panic amongst the existing Windows 7 users, as the shift will be a boon for technological advancements. Users should simply wait for Windows 9, which is expected to hit the market in 2015 with advanced features, performance improvements, and latest technological advents. According to sources, Microsoft has learned the lesson from Windows 8’s criticism and has put back all the necessary features that users want to experience in a desktop OS.