Windows 8 has been met with much criticism from both personal and business users and even with the release of Windows 8.1 which brought back the much coveted Start Button, it still lacked the start menu that many Windows users have become accustomed too. Many business users have yet to upgrade to Windows 8 and this doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. Microsoft officially ended retail sales of Windows 7 Home, Premium and Ultimate editions on October 31 2013 and stipulated that Windows 7 Professional for OEM preinstall would terminate on 31st October 2014.
It appears that Microsoft have since backtracked on its original plan of ending support for business users and OEM’s by extending the life of Windows 7 Professional. Whilst we have no firm end date for Windows 7 Pro OEM preinstall for business users the company did state that at least a years notice would be given. Taking from that we can be assured that support for Windows 7 Pro OEM will continue until at least 14th February 2015 and quite possibly beyond this date.
For more information about Microsoft Windows lifecycles check out the fact sheet on their website for a complete list of dates for support and availability.
(image courtesy flickr.com/photos/65500233@N05/ under a creative commons license).