Windows 7 and Windows 8, which were released in 2009 and 2012, respectively, had completely different reactions from customers.
Users thought that the former was on par with XP while the latter was a huge failure.
Sadly, the official end of support for both operating systems is next month.
The year was 2009 when Nvidia’s GTX 295 dominated the graphics card market, Apple just introduced the iPhone 3G, and Microsoft unveiled Windows 7, to overwhelmingly positive user reviews.
Within two years, about 45 percent of PC owners had upgraded to Windows 7 because users believed that Windows XP had finally reached a point where an appropriate upgrade was available.
In three years, Windows 8 was released. In case you forgot, Windows 8 debuted without a start menu and concentrated on a fresh, contemporary tile design.
For context, more than two years after its debut, Windows 8 only modestly increased its market share.
Just one year later, Microsoft launched the Windows 8.1 update in response to the overwhelming consumer backlash.
Even though the Windows 8.1 update made the OS better, Windows 8’s bad reputation persisted.
While Windows 7 and Windows 10 both achieved better adoption rates in just eight months, Windows 8.1 never managed to surpass 19.1% of the overall Windows market share.
Microsoft provides “mainstream” and “extended” levels of support for its operating systems.
Extended support for Windows 7 concluded in January 2020, while mainstream support ended in January 2015.
However, Microsoft provided an additional three years of maintenance for a fee as Windows 7 still accounted for about 25% of Windows installs.
The operating system will no longer receive upgrades after January 10, 2023, at which point those extra years will come to an end.
While this was happening, Windows 8’s general support expired in January 2018. Similar to that, its continued support expires on January 10, 2023.
Additionally, Microsoft has disclosed that after January 12, 2023, updates for Microsoft Edge on both Windows 7 and Windows 8 will cease.
After that date, Microsoft’s Webview2, a capability that enables Edge to show web pages outside of the browser, also ceases to be supported.
To read our blog on “According to a poll from October, only 15% of computers are on Windows 11 worldwide,” click here.
