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Windows 7 Enters Its Final Year of Free Support (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Windows 7's five years of extended support will expire on January 14, 2020 -- exactly one year from today. After this date, security fixes will no longer be freely available for the operating system that's still widely used. As always, the end of free support does not mean the end of support entirely. Microsoft has long offered paid support options for its operating systems beyond their normal lifetime, and Windows 7 is no different. What is different is the way that paid support will be offered. For previous versions of Windows, companies had to enter into a support contract of some kind to continue to receive patches. For Windows 7, however, the extra patches will simply be an optional extra that can be added to an existing volume license subscription -- no separate support contract needed -- on a per-device basis. These Extended Security Updates (ESU) will be available for three years after the 2020 cut-off, with prices escalating each year.
As a Win7 user that will be a decision at EOL.
I'd rather take my chances with "unsupported" Windows 7 (been running with automatic updates disabled for years) then allow that MS spyware garbage on my networks and risk updates that break. Nothing will change next year except maybe more computers running Win 7 inside VMs.
Telemetry should be OPT IN, not opt in. If MS can't even respect my wishes then I can't respect their forced downgrades.
--
NEVER mix business with pleasure; your business will get fucked over by someone who enjoys the pleasure
With Windows 10 not being a viable replacement to 7 due to forced updates and telemetry there is going to be an unprecedented amount of people using Windows 7 after the deadline. It will be bigger than the end of XP. There is certainly going to be more wannacry style attacks due to the amount of sitting ducks that are going to be created. Microsoft could easily prevent this but they will instead risk world security for a few billion extra dollars. In a sane world legal action would be taken to force Microsoft to make a fit for purpose successor to Windows 7, but Microsoft enjoys money too much and can bribe their way out of it.
MS Exec #1 : A stable OS that works well means none of our customers will need to buy another OS from us.
MS Exec #2: That is why it needs to die.
You have a common misconception. Microsoft is a bit sneaky and devious in making it look like you absolutely must login with a Microsoft ID, but there is an easy to miss "small print" option during the initial unboxing of Acer / HP / Lenovo laptops that lets you create a local user ID instead of using a Microsoft ID. Here's a brief howto document that explains the process: https://www.austintechnology.com.au/log-windows-10-without-microsoft-account/
Except that Microsoft has always made most of its Windows revenues from volume licensing and preinstallation on new PCs anyway, and neither of those is particularly affected by the current version being stable because big organisations still want updates and new computers still need an OS. In my entire life, I think I've bought an off-the-shelf copy of Windows on physical media exactly once, and the staff looked at me all funny like.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
OSX is shit, AND, the only way to get it is by purchasing horrendously overpriced crap hardware.
Even if you really don't like the hardware (which is mostly not overpriced), you can always build a hackintosh...
I still think OSX is nicer than even Windows 7, in many ways.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I've been saying for some time (including today to one of our customers) Windows 2000 was the best operating system Microsoft ever made. Fast, easy to use, able to accomplish what you wanted with ease. No harassment about this or that, no waiting for an explorer screen to "update" what was in the directory.
I dare say if I put a power supply in my W2K system at home it would still run faster than my work machine.
Umm... ESCALATING? Do you mean free patches for a full decade, with a free upgrade path to the fully supported next generation of the OS, along with constant pleas to upgrade off your decade-old OS for the past several years? With *optional* extended support available for a fee for that small percentage of users who are unable or unwilling to relegate their decade-old to the dustbin of history?
Face it, OS technology moves forward, and unless you are still using Windows 1.0, this should not be a surprise to you.
If there was a better version of Windows to be purchased I would buy it and be happy about spending the money. So would a lot of other users.
The problem is Microsoft has neglected to release a viable replacement.
I use TrueOS - formerly PC-BSD, which is FreeBSD+Lumina. I very much enjoy it, and have full control on it. Only thing I miss - having WiFi enabled on the thing, but I make do w/ the ethernet connection
If the crapware is mostly OEM-supplied, it’s generally faster to just install the OS clean and then install drivers.
He may find it hard to turn off his IT Help Desk persona that he uses at work when communicating elsewhere.
Nice toy operating system you have there. When are you going to switch unix?
some karma... and kinda lukewarm about it.
you mean free additonal bloat and lower and lower quality with each release, with added spyware and bugs.
Microsoft is moving backwards, pal.
OS Technology? pfft, you mean more eye candy and bloat. hardly "technology"
No you can't.
As a small business user I can only purchase Windows 10 "Professional".
There is no way for me to regulate the update and reboot process. Yes, there are ways to defer it. Yes, it can be scheduled. But it can't be deferred indefinitely. There are two sticking points here that may not fit your own impression of the use-case:
1) My computer is running important tasks continuously and if I need it to run for 6 weeks without a restart then so be it - why can't I do this?
2) Even if my tasks are shorter, they are continuously overlapping, so there is no valid window when it can be restarted.
3) Even if my tasks are shorter, and do not overlap, the forced update and reboot is another factor that I shouldn't have to deal with.
PS: For the others reading along. There is a *lot* of confusion about this online. Most of it stems from different Win10 versions, as well as features changing over time. The short of it is that only Enterprise customers have access to the full toolkit to control updates in a sensible way. Everyone else, including a lot of small businesses that do not qualify for Enterprise licensing, are basically fucked.
Gesus christ. Do you use this OS? Do you use it regularly? Is it the "Professional" version?
I can set the "Active Hours". The active hours are configured so that within any 24 hour block there will always be a period of time outside the active hours. Microsoft uses this period of time to apply forced updates, some (not all) of which will reboot the system, REGARDLESS OF WHAT IT IS DOING.
How do you not understand this?
Here are some related articles on the topic. Most interest is from users wanting to stop Windows restarting unexpectedly.
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/stop-windows-automatic-reboots
https://www.maketecheasier.com/stop-windows10-forced-updates/ [Note that Group Policy Editor was later disabled in the "Professional" version]
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-rebooting-after-installing-updates
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/disable-forced-restarts-windows-update/
If you can be bothered to read them, notice that most of these "solutions" involve disabling updates, or, applying registry hacks that may work for the current version, but could be disabled in the next release.
I don't know about you, but I refuse to fight with my OS. I have much better things to do with my time.
[Cue the "Like Post On Slashdot" rebuttal. He he, this is rec time :)]
I've been using Windows Media Center since the 90s to record free to air tv programs.
I'm wondering if anyone else out there has used or is using Windows Media Center. If so has anyone found better alternatives?
Windows 7 was the last OS which came with Windows Media Center, otherwise I'd probably have just upgraded the system.
Billly Gates wrote :-
I can assure you that Windows 8.1/10 are remarkable faster and lighter. Especially once you turn the BIOS off and put on UEFI mode on an SSD. What took 35 to 45 seconds takes 6 seconds on Windows 10 because it doesn't do bios 1981 emulation bullshit when it loads the operating system.
So you really are Bill Gates then. I had thought your name here was just a joke.
BTW, I don't give a shit how long my OS takes to load, I rarely turn my PC off. That comment is addressed to systemd fans too BTW.