Microsoft Ends Mainstream Support For Windows 7

jones_supa writes The mainstream support of Microsoft Windows 7 [ended Monday]. The operating system leaving mainstream support means no more platform updates, no new features, and end of free support. Windows 7 will now enter extended support, which means that security updates will keep coming, and support will be offered for charge. The final end of support for Windows 7 will be reached January 14, 2020. Is anyone nostalgic for Windows 7?

Comments

Nostalgic for Windows 7?

[JourneymanMereel]

I'm not nostalgic for Windows 7.... I still run it! On all of our networked computers.

Re:Nostalgic for Windows 7?

[kilfarsnar]

Same here. With Windows XP still hanging on and Windows 8 needlessly messing with the UI, I doubt we'll see Windows 7 going anywhere anytime soon.

Re:Nostalgic for Windows 7?

[93 Escort Wagon]

I'm not a huge fan of Windows; but, If I need it for something, Windows 7 is the version I install - in a virtual machine. It does seem pretty solid, and 8's UI gets in the way far too much (says this Mac user).

Re:Nostalgic for Windows 7?

[macs4all]

More and more, I'm finding myself working at places where I really don't have to use a Windows UI if I don't want to. Right now I'm typing this on my corporate-issued MacBook Pro, and only rarely do I bother logging onto a Windows server (vSphere client, and even then only out of habit since the web-client works pretty much as well).

Just an aside: I'm no fan of MS, even though I have to work in a Windows environment; however, when dealing with MS Servers, I have found that the recent versions of the Microsoft RDC Client for OS X is actually even more capable, just as fast (or maybe even faster), and a WHOLE lot better-mannered than even the Windows native RDC Client.

If you run OS X, but need to "Remote-In" to Windows Servers/Workstations, check it out. It's free, and quite pleasant.

And now I have to go wash my hands for typing something complimentary about Windows...

Re:Nostalgic for Windows 7?

[afidel]

Windows 10 is where the enterprise is going. I literally just got out of a meeting where we were discussing our goals for the year and Office 2013 and probably Windows 10 (depending on launch date and apparent buginess) are on the list. As far as your MBP, that's fine for you if you work in IT, but if you think most businesses are going to give every worker drone an expensive Mac with about 5-10x the support cost (as in I have numbers that show our Mac users cost that much more depending on their level of competence/IT independance) you're delusional.

Re:Nostalgic for Windows 7?

[tnk1]

It is definitely much easier to use Windows in the business than Macs, from an IT perspective. There isn't even a comparison. The tools for managing Windows boxes are solid, and provides very simple integration and administration.

If you don't want amateur sysadmins in your Windows boxes, then you don't give them administrator access on their machines.

Windows is also considerably more stable than it used to be. There is no substantial difference in reliability between a Mac and a Win 7 box. Hell, I've been using the an install of Vista, of all things, on a box for at least five years without any difficulty.

As far as security goes, as far as I can tell, the only major difference is that with Windows, you have more malware that has been written for it, but in terms of real security, it is no worse, and it is actually considerably better than a Mac if you consider the fact that an IT department can enforce restrictions on installing software and ensuring patching much more easily with a Windows box.

I've supported both in IT before, and it isn't even close. Which is not to say Windows is perfect or even the best box for the job. There are many developers who love Macs for good reason.. That does not translate, however, into ease of management. For all that Apple is decent at maintaining upgrades on their consumer devices, their business support is crap and getting worse.

Macs are not business machines, they're consumer machines that have to be shoehorned in and managed like special snowflakes.

Very nostalgic

[Anonymous Coward]

I plan to switch to it real soon now.

But

[rossdee]

Some people are even now upgrading to Win 7

I wouldn't touch 8.x with a 3 metre resident of Warsaw

Re:But

[ganjadude]

ive been working with the 10 tech preview. it fixes all the issues with 8 IMO. Im liking it, but YMMV

Re:But

[dablow]

Windows 8.1 is ok.....

It's just the UI and stupid metro (modern wtv) stupid start menu crap that annoys me.

Also it seems to be a little shizo...some settings are in classic menus...some in modern....

But in terms of stability, performance, it's actually as good as windows 7.

Re:But

[ganjadude]

yes it does. "metro" is dead in 10, metro apps are now in the start menu (think windows 7 menu) you have the standard XP classic startmenu, and attached to that similar to 7 your metro tiles live.

Metro apps open on the desktop and are resizable unlike in 8/ 8,1 where you have to be in metro like it were an app itself. To top it off, it is fast, much faster than 7 or 8 (SSD 8 gig of ram phenom 2 setup)

It will get security patches for the next 5 years

[wiredog]

Which is about 5 years longer than any version of Android older than 5.0 will get them.

Re:The beast and the hero

[Half-pint HAL]

The bad news is that they skipped 9, which was scheduled to be a good one....

Re:Where's the replacement?

[rafjaimes]

You can try 10 Technical Preview. It is Windows 8.1 with Metro condensed to a start menu. It still has some full-screen hijacking apps and tons of bloat from Bing and the "App" Store. This might be ok for some people but it sounds like Microsoft is going down the wrong road for those of us that like a clean, controlled, and predictable system. Linux may be the answer for many if it has the right program support, but it's possible that 7 is the last sane OS from Microsoft.

Re:No nostalgia for something you use every day.

[Enry]

I had a university as a client last year and they had at least one Windows 3.1 system still in operation in a research capacity. XP is still all over the place.

Re:Win7 is the new XP

[pla]

Microsoft made a terrible mistake in allowing enterprises to remain on XP so long and thus allowing this culture of not upgrading to take place.

"Allowing"? Good one!

If Microsoft had tried to force companies to migrate to Vista, we would have seen 2007 as finally the year of "Linux on the Desktop".

Software vendors need to get a grip on their role in the ecosystem. They serve us, not the other way around. When people still run XP (hell, people still run 95!), that should tell Microsoft everything it needs to know about the viability of continuing its current trend toward forcing rapid unwanted change on people.

But... If evil is the product, it's quite good!

[Futurepower(R)]

"Good luck with pushing 8 to the corporate world... it's about as adoptable as an angry badger with syphilis."

Don't you just hate it when people are excessively positive about Microsoft?