What will happen once Windows 7 ends support?

[AaronReturn2004]

You know that January 2020 will be worse than April 2014, right? Imagine what will happen as per the title.

[Resident007]

Windows 7 will just stop getting any updates. Users will have to move to 8.1 or 10 or continue using 7, but without security patches, putting their data on risk. On the other hand, there’s an option to pay and get extra support time. So actually it’s going to be almost the same as April 2014.

[WindowsBetaz01]

The world will continue to spin, some people will upgrade to a newer version of windows (or switch to another OS), and some will stay on 7. And I don't think that XP's support ending was a huge catastrophe, I mean, it's outdated, it needed to come to an end (and everyone was given a huge notice in advance). Even though 7's "death" it's a little over a year away, I can imagine more people hanging on to it than those who couldn't let go of XP for whatever reason.

[sArAmTaCoJeSUs]

This will probably convince people to leave Windows completely since so many people hate Windows 10, or they will stay with Windows 7 just like with Windows XP.

[LilShootDawg]

Windows 10 is actually fine for me. It does what I need it to do, doesn't crash (haven't crashed yet since 15), is fast, and basically, Windows.

[sArAmTaCoJeSUs]

Windows 10 is actually fine for me. It does what I need it to do, doesn't crash (haven't crashed yet since 15), is fast, and basically, Windows.

It works fine for me too, I was just stating how so many people do not like that version of Windows which will affect the choices of their OS after Windows 7.

[longhornwhistler]

I imagine it'll be just as bad if not worse than when XP went out of support in 2014.

[win32]

According to netmarketshare, Windows 7 maintains a narrow lead in market share as of October, 39.35% vs. 38.28% for Windows 10. What was XP's market share 15 months before ending support?

From what I've seen, the vast majority of students at my school are running 10; only two out of over 100 I saw are running Windows 7. On the other hand, virtually every business I've visited this year is running Windows 7, with isolated occurrences of 10 and XP.

Windows 2000 and XP have seen unofficial update packages, extended kernels and unofficial drivers for newer components. However, there doesn't seem to be much to extend, considering that software that has dropped 7 support (Office and Adobe CC) and went straight to 10; there seem to be more win32 API updates in 8 than 10. Are they UWP apps now? Maybe UWP and DX12 will be shoehorned onto Windows 7 unofficially.

Unlike Windows XP, which was eventually followed up by a well-received, relatively similar successor, Windows 7 seems to be the end of the line for traditional Windows NT: a proper explorer shell, no telemetry (if you avoid a certain few updates), no forced updates with serious quality control issues, among other things. I think that a loyal, moderately-sized Windows 7 userbase will persist well into the 2020s, and I will be along for the ride.

[jwillis84]

I find it odd that XP or W7 is too old is given as a good reason for ending support. XP was successful because the product stabilized overtime and allowed hardware drivers to get better and better. CPU and support chips were customized around it and improved dramatically in the twelve years it was available. Feature updates tended to destabilize it, but were safely cordoned off with Service Packs. Security which is use as the war hammer these days for mandatory involuntary updates was at one time an optional feature. -- instead since Microsoft 2.0 started in 2010 and the closed the old buildings and let go all the development staff or 'retired' them has brought us rather questionable support, mandatory updates, obscured security update masked with untested feature updates and random unannounced user interface changes. I reluctantly use W10, but firewall off microsoft update domains until I am doing less life threatening or critical activities and always carry a bootable W7 portable Win2Go stick.

[LuLu]

smart ones, will migrate to linux and run NT 6 in VM

[LarryTN7722]

When Windows 7 reaches end of support in 2020, the market share for it will be around 25%, similar to Windows XP in 2014. Also, most applications will no longer support Windows 7 by 2025.

That's just my prediction.

[AaronReturn2004]

No one's talked about a registry hack allowing you to get updates for the embedded versions or at least installing the updates manually. EOS dates are at https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/lif ... SReady%207

[AlphaBeta]

No one's talked about a registry hack allowing you to get updates for the embedded versions or at least installing the updates manually. EOS dates are at https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/lif ... SReady%207

Licensing in Windows 7 is a bit more sophisticated than in Windows XP...

[sArAmTaCoJeSUs]

No one's talked about a registry hack allowing you to get updates for the embedded versions or at least installing the updates manually. EOS dates are at https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/lif ... SReady%207

Licensing in Windows 7 is a bit more sophisticated than in Windows XP...

Besides, it's only 1 extra year, unlike Windows XP Embedded which got 5 years extra.

[AaronReturn2004]

Besides, it's only 1 extra year, unlike Windows XP Embedded which got 5 years extra.

Do you mean Windows Embedded POSReady/Standard 2009?

[AaronReturn2004]

After hearing about the ESU, maybe we could have people switching to/downloading ISOs of the VL editions of Professional and Enterprise with the ESU built in. Or someone someone would find a way to make it work for all editions.

[AlphaBeta]

What? I am pretty sure the paid security updates would be distributed over a portal only paying customers have access to, and would be primarily meant for distribution via WSUS. You don't just install Professional or Enterprise and simply receive updates even after EOL.

[MrBurgerKing]

From what I've seen, the vast majority of students at my school are running 10; only two out of over 100 I saw are running Windows 7. On the other hand, virtually every business I've visited this year is running Windows 7, with isolated occurrences of 10 and XP.

Yeah, since most students are using what came with their new hardware, but businesses have to standardize.

Windows 10 is actually fine for me. It does what I need it to do, doesn't crash (haven't crashed yet since 15), is fast, and basically, Windows.

It depends on what hardware you are using, and what version of 10. While using stock 10 home on a Haswell system with an hdd, I found it to be way more unstable than previous versions. I had licensing issues with Windows Store, random downloading of candy crush and other games I couldn't stop, and other random spikes in slowness.

This will probably convince people to leave Windows completely since so many people hate Windows 10, or they will stay with Windows 7 just like with Windows XP.

Most consumers are desensitized to forced updates, slowdowns/rot, instability, inefficient apps, and planned obsolescence in general. The ones that notice blame the age of their computer, and just buys a new one. Devs (including MS) prioritize flashy new features over performance. Making a program slow or unstable doesn't hurt their bottom line, but knee-capping otherwise perfectly capable computers and selling replacements actually improves it. Even if people did get frustrated with MS, switching to another platform is usually too difficult.

[YourAverageJoe]

You know that January 2020 will be worse than April 2014, right? Imagine what will happen as per the title.

Companies will likely either migrate to Windows 10, or make use of the 'paid updates by 2023' thing.

[MrBurgerKing]

You know that January 2020 will be worse than April 2014, right? Imagine what will happen as per the title.

Companies will likely either migrate to Windows 10, or make use of the 'paid updates by 2023' thing.

Since ESU is charged per-device, and businesses are replacing equipment this year anyway, pretty much everyone is migrating. Most of the organizations I work with already have. I think the reason why 7's market share is so high is a combination of large orgs migrating gradually or planning to switch late, and consumers who haven't been convinced to update yet.

[Brave]

Lots of banks still use Windows XP. I think lots of enterprise clients have a professional or VL license but i believe only consumer support ended. But even VL customers have a time limit to stop using Windows XP.

[AlexN]

Considering how much easier the upgrade path is going from 7->10 as opposed to XP->10, I don't think this is going to be as big of a deal. People are gonna complain as always, but most businesses and users should be able to advance to 10 without any major hardware changes (afaik Windows 10 actually performs *better* than 7 on the same hardware). Only major issue I see is the inevitable legacy program some corporation has had around for 15 years breaking on the way up.

[AS95678]

I find it odd that XP or W7 is too old is given as a good reason for ending support. XP was successful because the product stabilized overtime and allowed hardware drivers to get better and better. CPU and support chips were customized around it and improved dramatically in the twelve years it was available. Feature updates tended to destabilize it, but were safely cordoned off with Service Packs. Security which is use as the war hammer these days for mandatory involuntary updates was at one time an optional feature. -- instead since Microsoft 2.0 started in 2010 and the closed the old buildings and let go all the development staff or 'retired' them has brought us rather questionable support, mandatory updates, obscured security update masked with untested feature updates and random unannounced user interface changes. I reluctantly use W10, but firewall off microsoft update domains until I am doing less life threatening or critical activities and always carry a bootable W7 portable Win2Go stick.

The main problem with maintaining old codebases for so long is that eventually the code becomes so messy that it becomes unstable causing the opposite effect of what you desire, and it also doesn't allow for easy adaptation to modern technology and features, which is why we need a modular Windows soon.

[Mr.Coffee]

I'm glad this topic came up. I truly am.

I purchased a Hp Pavilion 17 laptop that has an AMD quad core APU. Needless to say, it's not supported by Windows 7 (SP1) or Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is the only operating system it supports and it even came with Windows 10 Home. Back in the day, I remember tinkering around with the NT5 betas and testing various video game functionality and compatibility. I remember thinking that this was going to be a horrible operating system and it wasn't at all.

With that stated, I despise Windows 10. I removed Home and installed Education. The forced ads, extensive time involved with updating windows and the sheer abuse of system resources makes this a hated piece of software. It's Active Desktop on drugs. Windows 8.1 was a bit faster overall and Windows 7 was very quick and more representative of the power this laptop has. It has 8 gigabytes of memory installed and Windows 10 reduces this machine to a sluggish 486. Not cool at all.

Let's not forget that John Q. Public brought this all onto themselves. We'd still have Windows 98 and Visual Studio 6 if it weren't for the lawsuit. After all that drama, Microsoft moved away from that direction completely. I cannot blame Microsoft entirely, but Windows 10 was a wrong decision. That server administrators have to use the Metro interface is proof that Microsoft is struggling internally with issues of competence. I told a guy I know that a modernized Windows 2000 Workstation desktop for enterprise usage would blow everyone out of the water. In other words, Windows 2000 desktop with a Windows 10 core. This, and a rehabilitated update installation system would be a great direction forward.

Back on topic. In the consideration of Microsoft's industry direction, Macintosh will be my primary platform after all this. Macintosh, various BSD distributions, and Linux. This wasn't an easy conclusion to reach. I've literally spent hours installing the newer Visual Studio releases and Windows updates. For me, it reached a level of criminality. On my early 2009 Mac Book, I restored it over wireless internet and updated it within two hours of time. That's a complete restoration from the BIOS. It downloaded the operating system image, installed it, and I updated it. About two hours. All the hot women use Macs anyways.

[RabidSnake]

Unless you need DX 12 then no reason to upgrade to 10 if you don't install updates anyway, Windows 7 can run vulkan, does not have built in adds, does not spy on you and has a better UI (Aero is just butiful). Activation may be more difficult after support ends.