Microsoft adds 3 years support for Windows 7

[Melvis]

Im not sure if this has been posted yet, not that I can see, but for me personally I find this great news (cant stand W10) and this might be good news for alot of other people. (if its to all people)


But support costs will keep going up.
Enterprise customers clinging to their Windows 7 installations will be able to get security updates for three years longer, until January 2023, thanks to Microsoft changing its mind on pulling the plug on support for the heritage operating system.

Windows 7 is otherwise scheduled to exit extended support by January 2020.

However, the Extended Security Updates (ESU) will cost customers and are offered on a per-devices basis. The price for ESUs will increase each year as well.

The ESUs are available to Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise customers in Microsoft's Volume Licensing scheme.

Customers with Windows software assurance and Windows 10 Enterprise and Education subscriptions will get an unspecified discount for the ESUs, Microsoft said.
Buying the ESUs means Windows 7 means customers will be able to continue to run Office 365 ProPlus, fully supported until 2023.

Microsoft also lengthened the Windows 10 update cycle for enterprises and educational customers, following feedback requesting more time for change management.


The currently supported feature updates for Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions versions 1607, 1703, 1709 and 1803 will now be supported for 30 months from their original release date.

Starting with Windows 10 version 1809 that's due out this month, future feature updates will also be supported for two and half years, to give customers with longer deployment cycles more time.

From March next year, Windows 10 Enterprise and Education will move to a semi-annual update cadence, starting with version 1903. The 18-month support cycle will also apply to feature releases of Windows 10 Home, Pro and the Office 365 ProPlus productivity suite.

Microsoft also backtracked on its edict from last year that only customers with mainstream support Office 365 ProPlus or Office 2019 clients could connect to the Office 365 cloud services.
Users on Office 2016 can now continue to connect to Office 365 services until October 2023, Microsoft said.



https://www.itnews.com.au/news/microsoft-adds-three-years-support-for-windows-7-512204

 

[newtekie1]

This isn't really surprising, they did the same thing with XP. After it ended support for normal customers, they allowed companies to pay for continued patches.

Me personally? I upgrade to 10 a long time ago, and can't stand going back to Windows 7, it just feels so old, and missing things that I've gotten used to having in Windows 10.

 

[Bill_Bright]

This really will not affect most readers here. It is only for Enterprise and Windows Pro "volume licensing" users. It does not affect normal home and small business Pro and Home users.

 

[jboydgolfer]

i have always been a huge windows 7 fan, you couldnt have paid me to touch win8, but when 10 was announced as a up & coming project, i got into the early adapters/guinea pig team. I liked it, but did switch back to win7 & went back n forth, since win10 in the early days broke a lot of my device drivers (which was the point of the R&D). I made the switch permanent, and havent looked back. to be honest, i did set up my win10 to look Very win7'ish, but as mentioned earlier, there are features & functionalities, as well as appearances that i have grown accustomed to, and wouldnt want to go back.

it is pretty cool that they extended support for enterprise users.....better than all the companies running XP for years after it was abandoned, and creating security risks out of their laziness.

 

[R-T-B]

I mean, even if they offered it to retail users, it is likely to be very, very pricey. Like original license cost pricey. That's typical of extended support contracts (not just MS, IBM offered it for OS/2 under a similar model all the way to 2006 or so).

 

[StrayKAT]

i have always been a huge windows 7 fan, you couldnt have paid me to touch win8, but when 10 was announced as a up & coming project, i got into the early adapters/guinea pig team. I liked it, but did switch back to win7 & went back n forth, since win10 in the early days broke a lot of my device drivers (which was the point of the R&D). I made the switch permanent, and havent looked back. to be honest, i did set up my win10 to look Very win7'ish, but as mentioned earlier, there are features & functionalities, as well as appearances that i have grown accustomed to, and wouldnt want to go back.

it is pretty cool that they extended support for enterprise users.....better than all the companies running XP for years after it was abandoned, and creating security risks out of their laziness.

I like 10 too. I still agree with those who hate the telemetry.. but we have more control over it than they give it credit for.

 

[hat]

O&O ShutUp 10 is good for that...

But the fact that such "telemetry" is baked into the OS, even if it can be disabled, still bothers me. I also am not so quick to trust that these disabled "features" are actually disabled.

I'll go hang up my tin foil hat now.

 

[StrayKAT]

O&O ShutUp 10 is good for that...

But the fact that such "telemetry" is baked into the OS, even if it can be disabled, still bothers me. I also am not so quick to trust that these disabled "features" are actually disabled.

I'll go hang up my tin foil hat now.

There's nothing wrong with being paranoid. I personally don't want to overthink it though. And either way, I'm eventually going to want to use Win 10 once Cyberpunk 2077 drops.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I like 10 too. I still agree with those who hate the telemetry.. but we have more control over it than they give it credit for.

Not only do we have more control (especially with the most recent versions/updates with W10), but the telemetry is MUCH MUCH less intrusive than the bashers believe or worse, want everyone else to believe.

Microsoft does not require, nor do they attempt to learn our real names, street addresses, or billing information. But our ISPs not only have that, they know everywhere we've been on the Internet. And worse, Congress has given them the green light to track, collect and sell our computing habits to 3rd parties. But who do those MS and Windows bashers criticize? Microsoft.

Google, Facebook, Amazon and others track, collect, and sell our information at will, but who gets criticized? Microsoft.

Cell phone carriers not only already have your real name, social security number and billing information, they know who you have called and texted. But worse, they know where you have been, where you are standing within a few feet , including the aisle of the store you are standing in, the direction you are heading and how fast you are moving. But who gets criticized? Microsoft.

Another problem is many people do not seem to understand the difference between privacy and security. It is HUGE! Windows 10 is inherently and significantly more "secure" than any previous version of Windows right out of the box and that will continue to improve (if users don't think they are smarter than MS and don't dink with the default settings).

I don't like that anybody, including Microsoft, is collecting any data on me. But I know, when it comes to privacy, Microsoft is least of my concerns.

If Windows 10 was a dog, I would understand the hate. But it is not. With current hardware designed with W10 in mind, Windows 10 is an excellent performer and provides a very stable platform (again, as long as users - unless true, educated experts - leave the defaults be). If Windows 10 could not easily be made to look and feel like Windows 7, I could understand. But it is simple to make that happen too.

The bottom line is this, if you want total privacy, disconnect from the Internet. Cancel your ISP service. Cancel your cell service. Remove and properly discard/recycle your cell phone battery, then run your cell phone through a hard drive shredder!

 

[silentbogo]

But the fact that such "telemetry" is baked into the OS, even if it can be disabled, still bothers me. I also am not so quick to trust that these disabled "features" are actually disabled.

Everyone is so paranoid about telemetry on their Windows PCs and Laptops, yet no one is freaking out about an excessive amount of telemetry in portable devices like smartphones and tablets.
Over time both Android and iOS have evolved and became so complex and confusing, that you really need to be in touch with latest news and updates in order to know what's tracking what and how to turn it off. Betcha, 70% of people who complains about Windows telemetry don't even know where to disable app and search history tracking, or how to manage all collected geolocation data on Android device.

I am paranoid when it comes to certain things, but Win10 telemetry is more of a nuisance, rather than a threat.
You can leak a lot more info about yourself off a smartphone comparing to your PC or laptop.

 

[hat]

I slam Google and Facebook (they're worse) when the topic is relevant. Amazon I don't know much about. I don't use their products, outside of ordering things on their site from time to time (I don't own a "smart speaker", or a fire stick, or anything like that).

 

[StrayKAT]

I slam Google and Facebook (they're worse) when the topic is relevant. Amazon I don't know much about. I don't use their products, outside of ordering things on their site from time to time (I don't own a "smart speaker", or a fire stick, or anything like that).

Out of those three, I don't mind Amazon... simply because "what you see is what you get". I think Jeff Bezos is obscenely too rich for his own good and needs to be personally pushed back.. but my opinion of the company in general isn't too negative. They've never tried to convince anyone they're anything but e-commerce/commerce. They're really quite single minded about it even (like with their acquisitions.. such as Whole Foods). Facebook and Google tries to convince everyone that their bottom line is something completely different than what it actually is. I'm a bit suspect on their very origins too. I don't think it's anything like the public story. Research Darpa's Lifelog project... which had hints of Facebook. Suddenly closed down the day Facebook came into being.

 

[rtwjunkie]

The big news in here though, was the extension of cloud services and the extension of end of support for Office 2016.

Hidden though, is the fact the new Office 2019 will only have mainstream support plus extended support which takes it to the end of support for 2016. The two will coincide. I can only infer that after that, no more standalone Office.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Amazon uses our information to toss up suggestions for similar items we might want to entice us to buy. Or, when we buy an item, they toss up other items other people bought when they purchased that item.

The thing about Amazon is they have our credit card information. That in itself is not bad. What is bad is we all know how poorly companies are at preventing hacks. And they will continue to be lackadaisical about it until our governments start holding companies like Equifax, Yahoo, JP Morgan Chase and others accountable and start levying fines that cost more than the PR campaigns and cover-ups, and start giving these CEOs and CIOs jail terms for their criminal negligence.

 

[StrayKAT]

I

Amazon uses our information to toss up suggestions for similar items we might want to entice us to buy. Or, when we buy an item, they toss up other items other people bought when they purchased that item.

The thing about Amazon is they have our credit card information. That in itself is not bad. What is bad is we all know how poorly companies are at preventing hacks. And they will continue to be lackadaisical about it until our governments start holding companies like Equifax, Yahoo, JP Morgan Chase and others accountable and start levying fines that cost more than the PR campaigns and cover-ups, and start giving these CEOs and CIOs jail terms for their criminal negligence.

I haven't had bad luck with them on that front.. but it could happen. One reason I stopped becoming a PlayStation user was some years back when they got hacked and lost millions of CC numbers. But so far, it seems like Amazon has stood up well.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I have not had bad luck either. I just make sure I use a credit card with a low daily limit and one that immediately alerts me to any activity.

 

[StrayKAT]

Well, to be clear, I use debit with CC numbers. So they have limits. But it can be a pain nonetheless.

 

[robot zombie]

For amazon and most other things online i use a paypal card. Load it up with what i need on a per purchase basis and thats it. Rest of the time its empty. And simply charging it wont pull money from my bank account. You have to manually put the money in. Being able to use that card means nothing unless you also have full account access.

 

[cucker tarlson]

Funny thing, I have a w10 gaming rig, dozens and dozens of new games, and I swear I could live without dx12 and not even see a difference.

rotr - better in dx11, dx12 is slightly faster but dx11 has better frametimes and plays more smoothly
deus ex md - better in dx11
doom and wolfenstein colossus - vulkan works on 7 and 8
division - slightly slower on dx11 but more stable too
battlefront 2 - better on dx11

I don't regret upgrading from 8.1 but I see absolutely no benefits either,except for more ways for the system and software to break stuff with all the functions.

 

[StrayKAT]

Funny thing, I have a w10 gaming rig, dozens and dozens of new games, and I swear I could live without dx12 and not even see a difference.

rotr - better in dx11, dx12 is slightly faster but dx11 has better frametimes and plays more smoothly
deus ex md - better in dx11
doom and wolfenstein colossus - vulkan works on 7 and 8
division - slightly slower on dx11 but more stable too
battlefront 2 - better on dx11

I don't regret upgrading from 8.1 but I see absolutely no benefits either,except for more ways for the system and software to break stuff with all the functions.

Winter Cyberpunk 2077 is Coming.

 

[cucker tarlson]

Winter Cyberpunk 2077 is Coming.

and that'll be dx11 too unless you want rtx, I promise you.

 

[StrayKAT]

and that'll be dx11 too unless you want rtx, I promise you.

Maybe. It's really not that long off, if you think about it. And I'll be happy either way.

 

[cucker tarlson]

Maybe. It's really not that long off, if you think about it. And I'll be happy either way.

2h 19 is my bet.

 

[hat]

Amazon uses our information to toss up suggestions for similar items we might want to entice us to buy. Or, when we buy an item, they toss up other items other people bought when they purchased that item.

The thing about Amazon is they have our credit card information. That in itself is not bad. What is bad is we all know how poorly companies are at preventing hacks. And they will continue to be lackadaisical about it until our governments start holding companies like Equifax, Yahoo, JP Morgan Chase and others accountable and start levying fines that cost more than the PR campaigns and cover-ups, and start giving these CEOs and CIOs jail terms for their criminal negligence.

Well, any time you use any type of card, somebody has that information. Bank account information too...

I have not had bad luck either. I just make sure I use a credit card with a low daily limit and one that immediately alerts me to any activity.

A wise move.

For amazon and most other things online i use a paypal card. Load it up with what i need on a per purchase basis and thats it. Rest of the time its empty. And simply charging it wont pull money from my bank account. You have to manually put the money in. Being able to use that card means nothing unless you also have full account access.

Hm... not sure how you have that set up. I try to use PP whenever possible to limit how much of my information flies around, but alas both my bank and debit card are linked to it. That said I pay for things with plain PP, not their card, but I would check to make sure that using the card with empty/insufficient funds sitting in PP wouldn't pull from your bank, or whatever you have linked to it.

 

[StrayKAT]

Funnily, MS and Amazon are partnering up to bring Cortana features/compatibility to Alexa. I don't like any of these assistants, but if they were to use one, it might be this. Anything but Google really.