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Microsoft To Stop Offering Support For Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Old Surface Devices in Forums (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the nobody-has-time-for-that dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft has announced that starting next month it will no longer be participating in the technical support forums for Windows 7, 8.1, 8.1 RT and numerous other products. On the software front, the company says that it will also no longer provide support for Microsoft Security Essentials, Internet Explorer 10, Office 2010 and 2013 as of July. It is not just software that is affected. Microsoft is also stopping support for Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, Surface RT, Surface 2, Microsoft Band and Zune. Some forums will be locked, preventing users from helping each other as well.

12 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Bummer by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where will the 15 Surface owners go to for support?

    1. Re:Bummer by Duhavid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can only speak for myself, but the UI in Win10 is not the main objection

      Not being able to manage when updates are applied
      Telemetry

      These are my issues.

      I understand that MS changes the UI so that people do not wonder why they are spending money on an update.
      What I don't understand is why people fall for that.

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
  2. How Old?? by Idimmu+Xul · · Score: 4, Informative

    Surface RT - 2012
    Surface Pro - 2013
    Surface Pro 2 - 2013
    Surface 2 - 2013

    How does this compare to apple? I think macOS High Sierra runs on laptops from 2009 onwards?

    --
    The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
    1. Re:How Old?? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Welcome, time traveler from the past! How's the 21st century treating you?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  3. Oh by M0j0_j0j0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Like you can actually get any help in Microsoft forums.....

    1. Re:Oh by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree. In these forums 90% of the time the response I see coming from a Microsoft representative is "generic way of cleaning your pc" or "how to reinstall or restore to the previous version", and most of the time the answer has NOTHING to do with the question that was asked. Sometimes I think it's an automated response from a bot, because it's too clueless to have been the response of a human being.

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
  4. That's a load of crap... by fallen1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    considering Windows 7 doesn't EOL until 2020. I think Microsoft needs another pimp slap from the anti-trust folks in the US Government. This is a blatant attempt to make currently popular versions of its operating system appear less secure in an effort to consolidate everyone under Windows 10.

    After months of usage, I've come to the same conclusion as when it was first announced -- Windows 10 sucks. I don't need a tablet/phone interface on my desktop. Their attempt at giving us a "regular" desktop really doesn't cut it either. I do not need the internals obfuscated so that "normal" users find it difficult to affect them as that makes it difficult for IT staff to reach them as well unless I learn a whole bunch of new shortcuts. Shortcuts that are there just because Microsoft decided to change how access worked; not because workflow is better or follows the Vulcan principles of logic -- just because they needed a UI change.

    --

    Dream as if you'll live forever.
    Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
    ~Anonymous~

    1. Re:That's a load of crap... by klingens · · Score: 5, Informative

      Windows 10 is a 100% phone/tablet interface. You can easily verify that yourself: they did away with the right mouse button.
      I noticed it the first time with my 3G WWAN: before, Windows 7, I could right-click on it and "connect": immediately online. Afterwards with Windows 7 I had to doubleclick and then connect through dialogs. Much more clunky, takes longer, very much phone like.

      The whole "settings" abomination works the same way. All the menus are made phone compatible.

      Correction: not a 100% phone interface. They are apparently incapable of actually fully replacing the old control panel what the "settings" crap is supposed to do.

      So yes, I have "tested" Windows 10 and running it. I'm not sure if you are however.

  5. Microsoft forum experience. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    U: I have a problem with xdog.dll not regestering and giving result code 0x32De32

    Top Solution--------
    MS: Hi this is sanjay. I will help you with this problem now. Have you tried system restore: **Irrelevant ms KB article**
    I will now walk you through windows re-install **Irrelevant KB article** Link to irrelevant microsoft fix it.

    Other solutions:
    U: You need to replace the dll with version 32.64.99 and try again.

    So no big loss.

  6. Yay by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyone else notice that Microsoft products work better after they no longer support them?

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  7. Who cares by butzwonker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In my experience, the advice on Microsoft forums always boils down to the following anyway: Save all of your data an reinstall Windows from scratch.

    The advice is pretty useless in many circumstances, but since most people don't have the time&money to sue Microsoft for their own loss of time & money, the advise always works for Microsoft. If I could bill Microsoft for every hour I've spend fixing what their operating system messed up, I could be a rich man...

  8. Re:What is Microsoft's main purpose? by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Funny

    But I came here for an argument!