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Microsoft Stops Selling Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 To Computer Makers (venturebeat.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on VentureBeat: Out with the old, and in with the new. Microsoft yesterday stopped providing Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1 licenses to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including its PC partners and systems builders. This means that, as of today, the only way you can buy a computer running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 is if you can still find one in stock. Two years ago, Microsoft stopped selling Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, and Windows 7 Ultimate licenses to OEMs. Now Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1 are also out of the picture, leaving Windows 10 as the only remaining option, assuming you want a PC with a Microsoft operating system. This is Microsoft's way of slowly phasing out old operating systems.
I wouldn't be surprised if we get Windows "obsidian" some time in the future. It's not "black" right?
I think they're going to get tremendous pushback from customers, and they'll continue selling Windows 7 for a while longer, still. I can't imagine a lot of businesses using Windows 10. That interface is pretty silly.
I don't respond to AC's.
enterprise versions / downgrade rights are still out there right?
Windows 10 or SystemD, or a $2000 macbook pro with crippled ports. These are your choices in 2016.
It depends on your agreement with Microsoft. A large company I worked for had "n-1" version regression rights in their EA. So if they are buying systems stickered with Windows 8, they can legally install Windows 7 on it.
As with all things Microsoft, it's a matter of how much you pay them.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
An admirable goal, but it does not take into account all those computers shipped with Windows 9. They will still have to support those, smart guy.
Unless the customers actively hate it.
In the data by netmarketshare.com, the market share for Windows 10 on the desktop has not increased since August. That is untypical, usually a new Microsoft OS would rise in percentage until a successor is released.
At the same time, the market share for Windows 8.1 is pretty stable since June. Similar for Windows 7, it seems people REALLY dislike the idea of switching to Win10.
Now the question is, where will those people go when Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 go out of support? ;-)
My guess is that many of them will keep their systems despite no more security updates, which may have interesting results at some point
C - the footgun of programming languages
Doubtful, The parent company of the place I work demands all PCs worldwide to be Windows 7 only and they aren't the only corporation that has this policy. We still have software that doesn't run on windows 8/10 so this news is a shafting for us. More likely MS is embarrassed by the consumer dislike of windows 10. MS is famous for putting internal politics ahead of business logic.
Thinking it won't be the color per se, but an enforced OS 'rental' that we should be on the lookout for... on the plus side they won't charge you for upgrades. :/
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
A company I work for has been using Linux in the server environment for, well, before I worked here (+15 years?)... It's always been a shouting match game in conversations about switching desktops from one to the other. We've held on to Windows for compatibility and, more importantly here, familiarity reasons. None of the company employees (sans IT) know what a Linux distro OS looks like, let alone how to use it. I was actually shocked when we had a short meeting about this today - we're forced to in the next two years "upgrade" to Windows 10, or start the process of documenting usage procedures, converting in-house software to Linux-compatible (no WINE), making procedures of all employees' unique or shared daily work make sense in an environment they are not familiar with, accounting for third-party software that is Windows-only, and ironing out the bugs of printing (we have some pretty custom stuff, albeit simple). The meeting lasted less than half an hour and the decision was made to migrate. The third party software and unique printing, uh, debacles will be worked out by virtualizing the Windows OS completely, using snapshots at different points during the day and having the central FS shares be the same as they were. Company policy is to NOT use Windows for any purpose involving Internet activity; the software we use that is Windows-only is internal to us; only uses the 'net to upgrade between versions. We already had LibreOffice in place and people are familiar with it and using it every day. There will be a dedicated, non-internet gateway machine in each department for things that involve HAVING to use MS Office for some reason. Sharing sales presentations will be a snap - from a virtualized instance of Windows 7 until it's necessary for "on-board" or other reasons to use Windows 10 (showing another company that we use the same, etc etc etc). I can't believe the meeting was as short as it was. We've been preparing but just NOT doing it. That has been irritating me for a while now. Better to slowly transition than quickly. But wait, it will be a slow transition because we have a couple of years left! I don't "do that" when it comes to bashing MS just to do it, but this gives me a chance to NOT bash, but thank them in an offhanded way for nicely making the decision for us. You want to force us to be in your control without options, well, now you lose control. Before it was tolerated.
Actually, yes they are, at least in this case... after all, how else are they going to shove their userbase into something that they have a more direct sphere of control over?
Not too many people are going to be clinging to their old install CDs/DVDs over time, and forcing OEMs to 'update' their UEFI firmware to disallow the older OS versions isn't too far-fetched ("This computer does not support outdated operating systems. Please press Enter to restore from the backup partition, or contact your computer manufacturer.")
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I'll run right out and buy a new Yosemite Macbook then... Oh they only offer the current OS and not the last 2 previous ones as well?
Doubtful, The parent company of the place I work demands all PCs worldwide to be Windows 7 only and they aren't the only corporation that has this policy.
Doesn't matter too much - EA licensees will still have access, but no one who isn't paying $$$$$($!) to Microsoft will.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Careful..that sounds almost suspiciously racist!!
Remember, Black OSes matter!!
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Next you will pay (rent) the privilege to have all the things they took away from you back in windows 10... piece by piece like some kind of sick in game purchase system.
My work laptop still runs XP. People said the world would end when support stopped. Yet the Thinkpad lives on
I know that no longer selling to OEMs is not the same thing as EOL, but I still feel like Windows 8.1 is "too new" to already having it phased out. I'm not saying that 8.1 was great or anything, but it at least had the potential to be a longer lasting offering of OEMs. Sure, MS is trying to push everyone to Win10, but as a user of Win10 since it was in beta, I think that it still feels just as beta as it was when I first used it. For that reason, when I build a desktop for someone or install a newer version of Windows for people that still have a computer running Vista (for whatever reason, but it happens), I default to installing Windows 8.1.
Thanks for the cheese, I'm outta here. Ain't gonna touch Windows 10 spyware version.
Thinking it won't be the color per se, but an enforced OS 'rental' that we should be on the lookout for... on the plus side they won't charge you for upgrades. :/
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Yep, time to phase out Microsoft....
In 2025, they'll be dropping their stick, Android, xPhone etc into an intelligent 5K HDTV cradle as the huge "desktop" and telling their grandkids about the evils of the Soviet Union and Microsoft...
We just put Windows 10 here at our business and the first thing I had to do was rip out half the operating system (thusly neutering it) and block them at the fire wall. All this in the name of simplicity and privacy. Microsoft. Stop your evil ways....
More like the market stopped buying it...
If that were really true, why were all the serious business PC suppliers still offering Windows 7 Pro preinstalled right up until yesterday, in many cases as the default option when you ordered online ahead of Windows 10? Why did several of them have detailed explanations ready today for how to use downgrade rights to get back to the Windows 7 you actually wanted instead of the Windows 10 that Microsoft now forces them to supply? And why is Windows 7 still by far the largest OS in the marketplace well over a year after 10 was out, despite Microsoft literally giving the latter away and aggressively promoting it to the extent that many people wound up switching to it and then vocally complaining that they hadn't wanted to?
at least to the point where it isn't worth supporting it.
Now we're getting somewhere. Older Windows operating systems do not fit with Microsoft's vision of a service-based, always-online future. Since Nadella is basically betting his business on making that happen (and, to be fair, so far what they're making in other areas seems to outweigh what they're losing in OS revenue) this seems unlikely to change unless and until there is a change in senior management.
I still find it an odd strategy. They're basically playing to the non-geek home users ("Free upgrades! New shinies!") and the enterprise market (Win 10 Enterprise is practically a different OS to the other editions) at the expense of the whole small business, power user and geek level in between. I can see them possibly making a lot of money doing that in the short to medium term. But in the longer term, that middle group is the one that often sets the direction of the industry, and sooner or later a competitor or two will surely exploit that.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
We still have software that doesn't run on windows 8/10
Maybe you ought to be working on a fix instead of /.-ing?
Depending on your vendor's/manufacturer's willingness to play along, you can still buy machines with 10 preinstalled and downgrade to an older version for another year or so.
Enterprise agreements are a different world entirely.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Can anyone elaborate on this some more?
Each year we ship about a dozen PCs that control research instruments and W10 is not suitable for running them*. While we have started migrating to Linux we will need a stop-gap solution until the end of next year. W7 should fill that gap, but if our supplier suddenly cuts us off we'll be stuck.
Are there restrictions on the physical location of PCs running Enterprise Windows? Can I, for example, buy 10 Enterprise licenses and then install them on PCs and then ship those PCs to the far corners of the globe and expect them to continue to work and be legal? Since these will be running at customer sites no one wants to be paying an annual fee for these computers, and in some cases they can't. The instrument is a one off purchase price and all parts of it must continue to operate for 10-20 years without intervention. I don't buy the argument that paying again for the OS software should qualify as annual maintenance.
I'm also under the impression that most EAs contain a clause forbidding the customer from discussing/disclosing the purchase price? Can anyone comment to the cost of Enterprise? Are we talking USD$500 per seat? USD$1000?
*Quite simply (but among other things) the forced updates and forced restart are complete show stoppers. My understanding is these can be disabled in the Enterprise version.
Where do you want to go today?
Uh, to Linux . . .
Oh rubbish, that's the continual Linux apologist tagline. People are *not* tied to Windows, they just don't care about what operating system their computer is running just that is supported and does what an operating system is supposed to do: run a user's programs. If anything Linux probably runs *less* of the programs a user might want to run.
No no, they are phasing out customers...
Cause win 10 can go f itself.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Well, if Microsoft wanted to boost computer sales, this is a fantastic way to do it. People are now going to be scrambling to grab computers that still have Windows 7 before they're all gone.
Thinking it won't be the color per se, but an enforced OS 'rental' that we should be on the lookout for...
How have people like you not moved to Linux, BSD or OSX yet? If you're that paranoid about Microsoft doing what you say (and frankly we've been hearing the same thing for the past decade anyway) then the fact that you are still using Windows indicates you will probably just do whatever they say anyway.
The thing is though, if they were to have Windows on a subscription basis people would probably pay and it's because MS would offer some additional value that people would be fine paying for. Like what they did with Office365, it's now on all your devices and you get online storage and syncing so people are fine with paying for that. Sure they could get free software but it's not all about money, people will pay for convenience and for things to just seamlessly work together. I can run Windows on my Macbook and it just works, but which Linux distro just works with hi-dpi screens, ACPI power management, broadcom wifi and the touchpad? Certainly not Ubuntu, Mint or Arch, they all have various issues that need immediate workaround and setup just to make them work properly and what you need to do varies wildly depending on the distro and the hardware you want to run it on. And then do you use that abortion that is Unity? Or Gnome3? Or KDE? They are so damn inconsistent, it's all over the place. Now if you see "free software" as the cheap alternative then you probably would have got Linux figured out on your machine but most people won't, they'd rather pay for something that works instead.
Look, Windows 7 is old. It has old technology from 7 years ago. There is no way anyone could want a computer with something so obsolete.
Sure, Linux and FreeBSD are over 20 years old and slowly increases in users every year. But their excuse is that their software is good, while Windows has a shelf life barely better than an egg salad sandwich.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Doesn't matter too much - EA licensees will still have access, but no one who isn't paying $$$$$($!) to Microsoft will.
OEMs are exactly the ones that pay $$$$$ to Microsoft and they're the ones that they will no longer sell them to.
And are apparently surprisingly popular! https://sourceforge.net/projec...
We still have software that doesn't run on windows 8/10
Maybe you ought to be working on a fix instead of /.-ing?
Like porting to Linux? :)
The small business market is HUGE and often overlooked by the big boys. This is why Cisco is not feeling as well as they used to...
After the Apple MBP hardware debacle I'm seriously considering switching back to my Win7 license, but I'd just assumed all the power (16gb, GTX) laptops were Win10 by now. Any recommendations?
More likely MS is embarrassed by the consumer dislike of windows 10.
I'm far from a MS apologist (typing this on a Mac; doing my development on Linux) but I think a simpler explanation is that they don't want to support a 7 year old OS. You can only keep backporting features and fixes that are developed on a new platform for so long. Once the platforms diverge sufficient, it becomes prohibitively expensive to maintain that compatibility.
Think of it this way: would you want to port Chrome to Windows 95? Of course not: it doesn't have half the APIs you'd want to use. You could port compatibility stubs, but eventually you'd end up rewriting half of the new OS onto the old until it became a Frankenstein's monster of a beast to maintain.
Where Microsoft really failed long-term is that they established the expectation that software written on the platform will run forever and ever, as a binary, unchanged. That's a terrible idea! On Mac and Linux, the expectation is that vendors will occasionally have to at least recompile their software to run on newer platforms. Simply having that expectation is enough for vendors to be used to it, and for end users to be used to their vendors doing it. Even just recompiling a project with a newer Xcode is often a big feature and performance win so there's not much resistance to doing so.
You don't install an app for most major OSes and expect it to run as-is for the next 20 years. And yet that's exactly what Microsoft has trained everyone to expect, and it's increasingly coming to bite them in the ass.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Sorry this is all a bridge too far. I neither seek nor have a place in any "future" that disrespects people to such an extent.
Tech industry used to be cool. It used to be companies cared at least somewhat about competing on merit providing useful new capabilities and better tools to get the job done. Now seems all anyone wants to do is fall over themselves to manipulate and stalk their customers with business models previously exclusive province of malware vendors.
Incremental improvements to W10 are NOT worth tolerating or wasting time bypassing intentional baked in evil nor am I willing to reward Microsoft by supporting what I believe to be unacceptable and unethical behavior.
Every intentional UX trick designed to covertly leak information, provide false assurances with clever language or cow people into submission reflects poorly not only on Microsoft but the industry as a whole.
It is NOT ok to profit from ignorance of YOUR customers anymore than you would deem it acceptable for a doctor or mechanic to profit from YOUR ignorance.
The cesspool of "me too" followers who use what everyone else is doing as cover for their increasingly valueless schemes does not speak to anything I would recognize as the "future" rather just another lame example of "market failure".
Tell that to certified software.
You know, the kind of software where the results are certified to stand up as legal evidence in court, provided the OS is a set version?
The kind of software used in mission-critical laboratory work around the globe?
The kind of software that in order to be re-certified (if the OS should change, for one example) takes years and costs many hundreds of thousands of dollars?
That kind of software that only runs under Win7.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
At the end of the day ROI is all the bean counters give two shits about.
Well, right. ROI also includes things like making your customers happy so that they buy more stuff, and apparently someone at MS ran the numbers and still decided this was a better long-term strategy.
It is possible to run Linux binaries compiled 20 years ago on modern Linux distros.
LOL yeah. That works great for the handful of statically linked binaries on your system, but good luck running something from '96 against a modern /lib.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
It's not a screamer (it's just an 8-core AMD chip) but at least it's fully modern I/O wise (USB 3.1 and Type C) and I bought it a nice clean Windows 7 license. Just enough time to take up a hobby to replace new games. I can only play so many retrogames. Maybe I'll go outside
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
More likely MS is embarrassed by the consumer dislike of windows 10.
I'm far from a MS apologist (typing this on a Mac; doing my development on Linux) but I think a simpler explanation is that they don't want to support a 7 year old OS.
The fly in that ointment is that it takes a stretch to say that Windows 10 works.
If Microsoft were to enable turning off updates, it would go a long way toward fixing the problem. There is still the telemetry issue, but most users don't know and don't care.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Backwards compatibility is great and all, but W10 needs to run the contemporary stuff as well and not break it.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
At the same time, the market share for Windows 8.1 is pretty stable since June.
Yes, it has stabilized to a point under those running Windows XP. There will always be a portion of the population no matter what version of an OS it is, just doesn't want to upgrade. New desktop OS's just don't matter to the vast majority of people that just use it to browse the web. The same thing was said of every version of Windows ever released, and Windows 10 is no different.
Sounds like your company bought some crappy software. I'd suggest talking to the company that made it, and then the person who authorized it's purchase.
And why is Windows 7 still by far the largest OS in the marketplace well over a year after 10 was out
You know what was the largest OS in the marketplace well over a year after windows 7 was out? Windows XP by a HUGE margin (60%). Windows 7 barely hit 15% it's first year. Windows 10 is at 22% in it's first year.
It really is hard to argue facts when the numbers don't back you up.
I notice this doesn't include Windows 7 Enterprise still. I haven't seen what Windows 10 Enterprise is like yet...but I have a feeling that my company will be rolling out whatever third-party app is needed to turn 10 back into a 7 experience.
I would suggest looking at Windows Server 2012 R2.
And yet, touch is the most common way we interact with computers today. Wow.
True, in the case of devices devoted to a single task at once, if not a single task altogether. But what's "the most common way we interact with computers" that are capable of displaying more than one application at once, such as one in which to read and one in which to write?
good luck running [a Linux executable] from '96 against a modern /lib.
I thought that's what a chroot was for.
Windows 10 other than Enterprise has no UI for disabling updates, nor for setting an Ethernet connection as "metered". When someone connects a desktop computer to a satellite modem, it's through an Ethernet cable. But it's still metered, on the order of $5 to $10 per gigabyte. Or when someone tethers a laptop computer to a smartphone through a USB cable, the phone appears to the computer as an Ethernet adapter. But it's still metered, with pricing at a similar order of magnitude.
Unlike service packs to Windows 10, service packs and update rollups to Windows XP and Windows 7 weren't multiple gigabytes.
Windows 7 barely hit 15% it's first year. Windows 10 is at 22% in it's first year.
And all they had to do to get there was literally give it away and try to trick users into migrating, which of course a lot of users didn't.
In any case, your cherry-picked data point doesn't contradict my original point. Windows 7 was and is still plenty popular in the market.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Where did that "without hardware" qualifier come from?
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Tell that to certified software.
You know, the kind of software where the results are certified to stand up as legal evidence in court, provided the OS is a set version?
Err Linux and Unix!
The kind of software used in mission-critical laboratory work around the globe?
Over 99% of all supercomputers on this planet run Linux. As for mission critical, I suppose you haven't heard of cluster's that run Unix or Linux although most mission critical systems are normally run for business where outages can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
The kind of software that in order to be re-certified (if the OS should change, for one example) takes years and costs many hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Ah! you've got me there. I think I would rather have an OS (ie. Linux and Unix) that you customize your updates across different platform groups that only takes a few minutes to setup although getting the change requests approvals may take a few days or weeks. It takes me less than an hour to install the latest version of Redhat from media or a few minutes across multiple (hundreds/thousands) platforms using Kickstart.
That kind of software that only runs under Win7.
So according to Microsoft, you like running your software on an obsolete operating system?
There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
As a small business owner, I can absolutely say that I feel abandoned by M$. Windows update on Windows 10 "Professional" is enough to keep me at 7. I have never owned the enterprise version, and I shouldn't have to buy it and learn how it's different just to get back update control.
Make love, not reality television.
We still have software that doesn't run on windows 8/10
Maybe you ought to be working on a fix instead of /.-ing?
You think they have funding for that?
Haven't many companies just finished transitioning to Windows 7 from Windows XP? Now Microsoft is asking them, in short order, to change yet again, to Windows 10.
An admirable goal, but it does not take into account all those computers shipped with Windows 9. They will still have to support those, smart guy.
There is no nine because seven ate it.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Somewhat true. But ordering with Windows 7 in the first place guarantees that there are Windows 7 drivers for all hardware and I don't have the same assurances if I buy Windows 10 and attempt a downgrade..
People said the world would end when support stopped.
If you're seeking admiration for running XP I suspect you're in the wrong place.
Who thought it would stop working when support ended? Nobody with a functioning mind.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Your company can still get Win 7 and 8.1 though volume licensing, I imagine, so you probably don't need to panic.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Some of it was indeed crappy and a lot of that was agreed to buy people who haven't worked here in years, and some of it is being replaced but that's a multi year project. Life is complicated when you work for a multinational that is a spinoff from another multinational. That's on top of the hardware(IP KVM, network equipment, EMC SAN) using Java clients that don't run at all under the updated Java security settings and we have had to keep Windows 2003 in a VM to deal with some of it.
Also, one of our problems was the Cisco VPN client (we had to upgrade and buy new licenses) and no one ever got fired for buying Cisco.
Windows 7 came out in 2009.
Find me a new computer running OS X Snow Leopard or Ubuntu 9.04 which also came out in that year.
Of course, this is Slashdot, so it's only wrong when evil Micro$oft does it.
Wasn't my call (I'm not a programmer) but a great many serious software programs in a laboratory setting that will only run under win7, and is only certified to run under win7 *by the federal gov't*
Fine, scream all you want about *nix, but the real world doesn't always listen.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
We're going the other way - all the apps run off the citrix server farm so you local OS is irrelevant. Only Microsoft products run locally (office, outlook, IE)
2016 was the Year of Linux on My Desktop. At home, my main system is Korora 23 (I had problems the one time I tried whatever replaced fedup; haven't gotten around to trying again). I have my Windows desktop around because it still has some of my old games installed on it.
I switched to LibreOffice at the same time. I still use Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2013 at work, but only because I haven't gotten a new system. If I get a new one at all, I'll install Linux first and virtualize Windows. At present I am virtualizing Linux at work.
I work with Linux server all day, at home and work.
Windows 7 will still get security updates for another 3.5 years or so (along with Windows 2008 and 2008 R2). If you have an EA agreement you also have downgrade rights. And finally, when those 3.5 years are up you can actually directly upgrade your Windows 7 devices to Windows 10 without have to refresh the entire OS. This is not going to be nearly as painful as the XP --> 7 upgrade was.
Wasn't my call (I'm not a programmer) but a great many serious software programs in a laboratory setting that will only run under win7, and is only certified to run under win7 *by the federal gov't*
Fine, scream all you want about *nix, but the real world doesn't always listen.
Lol! You just called the government "the real world!" That is some funny stuff right there!
My point is that the previously steady increase of Windows 10 marketshare (which every previous MS operating system had as well) seems to have stopped in recent months. While its predecessors' marketshare appears stable. Something is not going as planned for Microsoft.
BTW, Windows XP is still declining, albeit slowly. Netmarketshare shows it slightly below 8.1 now.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Considering the mess caused by the Apple Macbook Pro release announcement, Microsoft realized that they didn't have to worry about most people jumping ship, even if they still wanted Win7.
I didn't have time to read every comment, so please excuse this post if it is a duplication. Microsoft has extended the Windows 7 downgrade program for OEM manufacturers through October 31, 2017. As a Lenovo partner I verified this with their system engineering team last week and I also saw a letter from Panasonic to its partners confirming the same information. Retail establishments will not have access to Windows 7 systems as a general rule. Only OEM partners that purchase downgraded systems directly from the OEM manufacturers or through channel distributors will have access to Windows 7 systems for an additional year.
And just as many know and don't care. Because really why the fuck would you.
Because when Windows 10 updates and their "Facebook" doesn't work, or they can't listen to their music or hear their Netflix any more or skype their grandkids or participate in chatroulette, or various masturbatory aids - then they care.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Wasn't my call (I'm not a programmer) but a great many serious software programs in a laboratory setting that will only run under win7, and is only certified to run under win7 *by the federal gov't*
Fine, scream all you want about *nix, but the real world doesn't always listen.
Lol! You just called the government "the real world!" That is some funny stuff right there!
Very real if you are in any sort of health care business, like every hospital. FDA certified applications and devices are pretty much required if they touch a patient. Add in that these are almost all 3rd party vendor products, businesses like those 3rd party vendors and the hospitals do not like the added charges of upgrading, and that Win7 Enterprise is fully available with the license agreement, the pressure to have the latest and greatest rather than a known, stable platform is pretty much nil. Then you get into upgrade projects dealing with conflicts with other upgrades, required software, which budgets have how much money when, upgrade blackout periods, and available manpower to do upgrades, and things in highly integrated businesses tend to move slowly. As for Linux, said vendors do seem to be moving the backends to linux, but probably never will on the front end because of lock in. If you use three different programs that require Windows, one moving to linux would mean having to double the number of computers everywhere and increase the complexity of workflow, or choosing a different product that uses Windows.
They are phasing out customers, like me. You know how Native Americans would herd a buffalo stampede over a cliff, that's what Microsoft thinks it can do to it's customers. They think they can force everyone into renting their OS a service and unfortunately for most people, they are probably right. Nerds that actually care about privacy, security and user control are not their target market of concern. Guess what Microsoft, if you force the nerds to find an alternative, we will find it and eventually we will take the market with us.
You can still get windows 7 installs through manufacturers. They sell you an OEM license for windows 10 pro which includes downgrade rights and then slap a windows 7/8 image on the computer and ship it out.
You can go on the DELL website right now and find windows 7 business laptops. In fact, the default selection on the operating system IS windows 7. Example:
DELL 7470 - Operating system:
( ) Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit, English, French, Spanish [subtract $20.00]
(*) Windows 7 Professional English, French, Spanish 64bit (Includes Windows 10 Pro License) [Included in Price]