Microsoft retracts Windows 7 PC end-of-sales deadline

[A Guy]

As quietly as Microsoft defined the dates it would stop selling Windows 7, over the weekend it revised its end-of-sales deadlines again, saying it had made a mistake.

Last week, Microsoft told customers that it would require computer makers to halt sales of new Windows 7-powered PCs at the end of October 2014. Now, its sales shut-off page shows "To be determined" instead of the future date.

"We have yet to determine the end of sales date for PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled," a Microsoft spokeswoman said in an email reply to questions Tuesday. "The October 30, 2014, date that posted to the Windows Lifecycle page globally last week was done so in error."

Source

A Guy

 

[TanyaC]

Another mistake? Gosh they sure are getting careless

Withn 2020 the end of life for Win 7 and security updates that give Linux developers 6 years to make Linux not only viable, but desirable, as a replacement.. IMHO, M$ has lost interest in the desktop market so the hundred of millions of desktop users are going to need to go somewhere...

Skyrocketing hardware prices have done the rest..

Certainly not looking as though M$ will be a worthwhile investment.

I wonder if they will have trouble getting businesses off Win 7 after 2020? Will they revise that date too?

 

[Stephanie]

I run 2 Linux desktops and if Windows 9 turns out to be a flop I will keep Windows 7 for as long as possible then I will move to just Linux

 

[margrave]

Linux = server. It's unbearable on the desktop. And not one of my apps will run there.
So I wouldn't write off Windows (or Mac) anytime soon.

 

[SIW2]

May be unbearable for you. Not for the previous posters, obviously.

I am looking forward to Deepin 2014 being released.

 

[TanyaC]

May be unbearable for you. Not for the previous posters, obviously.

I am looking forward to Deepin 2014 being released.

+1 to that. I only have 2 Windows machines left (out of 11). My server (Win 2008 R2), and one Win 7 x64. The only reason I haven't moved the server across is lack of time.

I'll keep one Win 7 machine for compatibility, and testing. Not much else.

Haven't come across anything I can't get done, and the number of GUI's give me plenty of freedom to do things the way I'm used to.

 

[andrew129260]

I have honestly tried Linux. Really really tried it. I have tried the following:

-Mint
-Ubuntu
-Zorin
-zubuntu

and a few others....

I hate them all. Not only do they cause endless frustrations, they simple don't work with modern hardware. Good lord, how does anyone get anything to work with them?

Finding drivers are next to impossible, and when you do find them, you have to jump through hoops to even install them. Installing programs is a hassle as well. And its so slow of a process.

When I use Linux, I feel like I am using dos. I have to use a terminal for almost everything, and its really frustrating. If I wanted to type commands all day, I would go to dos!

/rant

That said, for 90% of people (average user) out there its great actually. Very good security, good at web browsing, pictures -the basics. I have my family desktop using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. It works good for there needs, doesn't have any big issues.

The one thing that really pissed me off was ubuntu would suddenly not shut down or restart when they told it to. It would just log them off and take them to the log in screen.

Its very pathetic when a freaking operating system cannot even do that right.

After searching online a lot, and applying some "terminal fixes" all was well again.

Other then that, Yay Linux!

 

[SIW2]

I know what you are getting at. Ironically for the simple stuff, it is great.

If you want to do more than that, it can involve a bit of work.

It doesn't have the depth of GUIs if that makes sense. Windows enthusiasts will have learned a lot about windows over a few years , commands, reg tweaks, etc. They will often forget it took them quite a while to learn that. Then when they go to Linux , they are back to square one with the slightly geeky stuff.

 

[techtitan100]

I wish Microsoft would seriously revise the mainstream support date for Windows 7 to like 2017 and the extended support date until 2022, that would be excellent for me to continue using it for that long, as I don't see myself using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 anytime soon

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I wish Microsoft would seriously revise the mainstream support date for Windows 7 to like 2017 and the extended support date until 2022, that would be excellent for me to continue using it for that long, as I don't see myself using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 anytime soon

Heck, I don't see myself using Win 8 or 8.1 ever.

 

[whs]

LF, it's not that bad. It can actually be fun. And that is from someone who does not like 8 either, LOL.

But seriously, there are some nice features in Windows 8.1. It takes some getting used to the new UI, but that is no rocket science. And with a touchscreen, some things are even easier. And you don't have to use touch all the time. That's only for tablets.

 

[andrew129260]

I know what you are getting at. Ironically for the simple stuff, it is great.

If you want to do more than that, it can involve a bit of work.

It doesn't have the depth of GUIs if that makes sense. Windows enthusiasts will have learned a lot about windows over a few years , commands, reg tweaks, etc. They will often forget it took them quite a while to learn that. Then when they go to Linux , they are back to square one with the slightly geeky stuff.

Agreed. I believe that is what I meant about that. Gui is lacking. Ironically, old versions of ubuntu had a more in depth GUI. New versions do not for some reason.... it's weird.

They just had to switch to unity

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

LF, it's not that bad. It can actually be fun. And that is from someone who does not like 8 either, LOL.

But seriously, there are some nice features in Windows 8.1. It takes some getting used to the new UI, but that is no rocket science. And with a touchscreen, some things are even easier. And you don't have to use touch all the time. That's only for tablets.

I've worked with 8.1 some (I forgot my notebook while on a trip back in November and my hosts let me use an 8.1 machine while I was there). While an improvement on 8.0, it still felt cumbersome and awkward. I saw no advantages over Win 7 so I see no sense in upgrading to 8.1 when I have three Win 7 retail licenses and one OEM and Win 7 will be good to 2020.

For desktop use, touch screens would destroy my shoulders (I have enough problems with them as it is).

 

[Computer0304]

This is actually good news for me since I am planning to buy a new computer in a few months and I still have the chance of getting Windows 7 on my new pc. I guess I won't have to stay with my 6 year old computer until its hardware dies.

 

[whs]

This is actually good news for me since I am planning to buy a new computer in a few months and I still have the chance of getting Windows 7 on my new pc. I guess I won't have to stay with my 6 year old computer until its hardware dies.

If you buy a PC without touch, Win7 is a better option. 8.1 is faster though and has a smaller footprint.

LF - I would not upgrade either and spend extra money for 8.1. But if it came with the machine, like on my new ASUS Transformer, it is workable. But the Transformer has touch.

 

[andrew129260]

Here is what I don't understand. Windows 7 was made for touch as well, and works great with a touchscreen. Its part of the reason as why Microsoft made a taskbar with giant square icons vs the old way. They made it that way so when you touched it with your finger it was easy to tap.

See here:

My favorite ways to use touch: Jump Lists, Snap, Shake, Peek, and more

and here:

Windows 7 made easy: Optimizing for touchscreen devices - Feature - Notebooks - CNET Asia

I have used windows 7 on a touch screen and it works great. Its not gimmicky ether, compared to windows 8. So why have windows 8 at all? If your getting windows 8 for touch, there really is no point. Microsoft wants one OS for every kind of device which is why it released windows 8. It fails at that.

Yes windows 8 supports more fingers. So what? Are you really going to use more than 2 fingers at once? At least 7 supports multi-touch.

 

[whs]

Good point. And even Vista supported touch. I had been playing with a Vista touch PC and that worked pretty well.

 

[Britton30]

Wolfgang, how do you like using touch screen? It seems OK on my Android phone, but It seems would be cumbersome of a tablet. Did your ASUS Transformer come with the keyboard dock?

 

[whs]

This is the Transformer. Great little machine and very fast. The screen is excellent - even I can see well on it (with my reading glasses).

When it is docked, I use mainly the Bluetooth mouse (don't like pads). But the wife prefers the pad (it is really her baby but I have to make all the setups and system stuff).

Touch is there for when you use it as a tablet, but sometimes I just hit a tile with my finger when docked. Would not think that it is comfy to use touch all the time when docked.

 

[Britton30]

Alrighty, thanks, looks like a good system.