Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Windows 7 Slated For Extended Support From Next Year

According to Microsoft, many services in their roster will reach the end of their support cycle soon. This bears out that Windows 7 will enter its extended support term from January next year.

All versions of Windows 7 OS, including Embedded Handheld 6.5, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Storage Server 2008, will be shifted to extended support by 13 January 2015. However, this is not the same as the ‘End of Life’, which was handed to Windows XP in April. Windows 7 users will merely cease to enjoy benefits of active development, and will receive only security patches from now on, rather than enhancements and features.

Meanwhile, two other products from Microsoft, Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 Service Pack 3 and Visual Studio 2012, will need the latest service packs installed in order to receive further updates. There are many other products, which will also get to End of Life on the same day as XP, such as Host Integration Server 2004, Systems Management Server 2003, Virtual Server 2005 and Visual FoxPro 9.0.

Many other products will undergo the same treatment as soon as by 14 October, which includes Windows CE 5.0, and Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004. Meanwhile, Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 will need to be updated from SP1 to remain supported.

Last in the line is Windows Phone 7.8, which comprised of a package specifically aimed at fixing problems in Windows Phone 7.5, and will enter extended support on 9 September.

Microsoft has asked users to upgrade or update any product bound to enter the extended support phase in the near future, or get in touch with their system administrator for clarifications. This has prompted a barrage of postings on Windows 7 help desk around the web.

Most end users, however, will remain unaffected by these disclosures. But with things being the way they are around Windows 8, and that the company no longer supports Windows XP they will need to watch how they announce these proceedings. Windows 8 has been widely sauce-panned for the decidedly alien UI it brought in, so how could repeat mention of plans to scrap Windows 7 help? The latter is the one other OS in the line that users favor as much as XP, and may be even more.

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