Back in January, Microsoft’s Vice President of Windows and Devices Group, Terry Myerson, announced that after 17 July 2017, Windows 7 and 8.1 users using Skylake CPUs will have to upgrade to Windows 10 to receive full software support. Microsoft has since extended the time frame by one year, to July 2018. However, it’s worth mentioning that a few of Microsoft’s hardware partners such as HP and Lenovo will get an exemption from the support cut for some of their systems.
Another point made in the announcement was that after 17 July 2018, support for Skylake-Windows 7/8.1 will be primarily focused only on “the most critical” security updates. Support in general for users with both these operating systems combined with Skylake processors will cease by 14 January 2020 and 10 January 2023 for Windows 7 and 8.1 respectively.
Despite this, most users would definitely still feel as though they are being aggressively pushed towards upgrading to Windows 10 – which isn’t favoured by everyone yet. It does not help, either, that the free upgrade to Windows 10 will end by July this year; this puts more pressure for some users to unwillingly upgrade.
Microsoft has attributed the extension of support for Skylake-based systems running on Windows 7 and 8.1 to its commitment to lead with a “customer-first” approach. Whichever way you look at it, one thing is for sure: Microsoft is fully committed to achieving its goal of reaching 1 billion Windows 10 installations by 2018, even if it means aggressively urging consumers to upgrade.
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