4 ms·

I do not understand why Microsoft does not continue to support windows 7 (for a medium fee). I mean as a business client the transition 7->10 was and is a compl

I do not understand why Microsoft does not continue to support windows 7 (for a medium fee). I mean as a business client the transition 7->10 was and is a complete waste of resources.

Bjartr 6y ago
I'm pretty sure they do support 7 (and earlier), for an exorbitant fee, for their largest clients.
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  Mainstream support ended almost six years ago. But extended support (meaning those who pay the big bucks) (officially) ended in January this year after 10 years of support. Whether they still unofficially support those who pay even bigger amounts? I don’t know.
- EvanAnderson 6y ago
  The program is called "Extended Security Updates for Windows 7", and the fee isn't exorbitant, but it's not necessarily cheap either. For 2020 it's $25 / PC, rising to $50 / PC for 2021, and $100 / PC for 2022. There's background here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-security-updates https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-secu... Background: I have a Customer who needed to maintain Windows 7 support for a legacy application on a single computer. For $175 to get 3 more years out of a paid-for critical application it was a "no-brainer" (and 3 more years to figure out a replacement strategy). Obviously, not all situations will be as simple.
  - addicted 6y ago
    That’s cheaper per year than Office 365.
  - 2ion 6y ago
    Which I would love to pay as a consumer Win 7 Pro user but unfortunately MSFT is not interested in that. Win10 -- which I also own -- has horrible UI and takes the simplicity + familiarity out of Windows, and I just don't want to move any active work to it.
marketingPro 6y ago
It broke a program that saved 1 to 2 hours of paperwork work per Engineer, per day. Half my fault, used 32 bit libraries and apparently didn't make my program robust enough to work on both 7 and 10. But that change to 10 was forced on us, cost me multiple days of paid Engineering time where I chatted up other paid Engineers. And broke the program. Then Trump Tariffs happened and 18000 contractors including myself were unemployed.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- strombofulous 6y ago
  Are you a GPT3 bot?
  - InitialLastName 6y ago
    A bot would have capitalized Unemployed to maintain the inconsistency.
colejohnson66 6y ago
They did. Windows 7 came out 11 years ago in October 2009. Mainstream support ended January 2015, which is fine, but those who paid could get support up through January 2020. That’s just over ten years of support - same as Ubuntu LTS (10 versus the regular 5). Not to mention Windows 8 came out in October 2012 (with 8.1 the next year) and Windows 10 came out July 2015. I think it’s reasonable for Microsoft to want people to upgrade within 11 years at least once. Especially since Windows 10’s been out for over five years.
- addicted 6y ago
  For context, Windows 7 came out when OS X Snow Leopard did.
  - apocalyptic0n3 6y ago
    For more context, the last Snow Leopard update was July 25, 2011 and was completely unsupported as of February 25, 2014 (although an update for the App Store was released in 2016). Windows 7 received updates through 2019, general support was dropped on January 13, 2015 and extended support dropped on January 14, 2020. The support period for Windows 7 was mightily impressive in comparison to the competition in this case, although the upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion was easier than Windows 7 to 10 (excluding dropping Rosetta and ending PowerPC support)
- fomine3 6y ago
  Extended support until 2020/01 won't need to be paid as we know. Need to pay for Extended Security Update if you still need to receive security updates now.
EvanAnderson 6y ago
They do continue to support Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008/R2 for a fee. The fees aren't hateful, and any size organization can enroll in the program. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-security-updates https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-secu...

I do not understand why Microsoft does not continue to support windows 7 (for a medium fee). I mean as a business client the transition 7->10 was and is a complete waste of resources.

Bjartr 6y ago

I'm pretty sure they do support 7 (and earlier), for an exorbitant fee, for their largest clients.

colejohnson66 6y ago
Mainstream support ended almost six years ago. But extended support (meaning those who pay the big bucks) (officially) ended in January this year after 10 years of support. Whether they still unofficially support those who pay even bigger amounts? I don’t know.
EvanAnderson 6y ago
The program is called "Extended Security Updates for Windows 7", and the fee isn't exorbitant, but it's not necessarily cheap either. For 2020 it's $25 / PC, rising to $50 / PC for 2021, and $100 / PC for 2022. There's background here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-security-updates https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-secu... Background: I have a Customer who needed to maintain Windows 7 support for a legacy application on a single computer. For $175 to get 3 more years out of a paid-for critical application it was a "no-brainer" (and 3 more years to figure out a replacement strategy). Obviously, not all situations will be as simple.
- addicted 6y ago
  That’s cheaper per year than Office 365.
- 2ion 6y ago
  Which I would love to pay as a consumer Win 7 Pro user but unfortunately MSFT is not interested in that. Win10 -- which I also own -- has horrible UI and takes the simplicity + familiarity out of Windows, and I just don't want to move any active work to it.

marketingPro 6y ago

It broke a program that saved 1 to 2 hours of paperwork work per Engineer, per day. Half my fault, used 32 bit libraries and apparently didn't make my program robust enough to work on both 7 and 10. But that change to 10 was forced on us, cost me multiple days of paid Engineering time where I chatted up other paid Engineers. And broke the program. Then Trump Tariffs happened and 18000 contractors including myself were unemployed.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
strombofulous 6y ago
Are you a GPT3 bot?
- InitialLastName 6y ago
  A bot would have capitalized Unemployed to maintain the inconsistency.

colejohnson66 6y ago

They did. Windows 7 came out 11 years ago in October 2009. Mainstream support ended January 2015, which is fine, but those who paid could get support up through January 2020. That’s just over ten years of support - same as Ubuntu LTS (10 versus the regular 5). Not to mention Windows 8 came out in October 2012 (with 8.1 the next year) and Windows 10 came out July 2015. I think it’s reasonable for Microsoft to want people to upgrade within 11 years at least once. Especially since Windows 10’s been out for over five years.

addicted 6y ago
For context, Windows 7 came out when OS X Snow Leopard did.
- apocalyptic0n3 6y ago
  For more context, the last Snow Leopard update was July 25, 2011 and was completely unsupported as of February 25, 2014 (although an update for the App Store was released in 2016). Windows 7 received updates through 2019, general support was dropped on January 13, 2015 and extended support dropped on January 14, 2020. The support period for Windows 7 was mightily impressive in comparison to the competition in this case, although the upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion was easier than Windows 7 to 10 (excluding dropping Rosetta and ending PowerPC support)
fomine3 6y ago
Extended support until 2020/01 won't need to be paid as we know. Need to pay for Extended Security Update if you still need to receive security updates now.

EvanAnderson 6y ago

They do continue to support Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008/R2 for a fee. The fees aren't hateful, and any size organization can enroll in the program. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-security-updates https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/extended-secu...