Windows 7 Support Expires in Three Years

In a blog post Microsoft again pointed out to the coming expiration of Windows 7. In barely three years, on January 14th, 2020, the extended Windows 7 support will end finally. From that moment on, there will be no more updates, not even security-updates, and no technical support at all.

Three years before the ending of support, Microsoft would like to encourage especially business customers to tackle a gradual transition to Windows 10. For software manufacturer, the in 2009 launched operating system, does no longer meet today’s security requirements that have especially increased by the growing use of cloud technologies.

According to Microsoft, the further use of Windows 7 results in increased operating costs (rise in costs for maintenance and support requests, increased work load by malware attacks). Furthermore, it is to be expected that hardware manufacturers will no longer develop and provide Windows 7 drivers for new devices.

Significantly less efforts were required to convince users to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7. The extended support for Vista already ended on April 11th, 2017.

In general, Microsoft offers 10 years of software support for its products, divided into 5 years of Mainstream Support and 5 years of Extended Support. During the first stage, Microsoft provides security fixes, quality updates, and new features. During the last half of support, there will only be updates available that help to improve reliability and stability of the System.

Source: Microsoft