Windows Vista extended support phase ends in less than 4 weeks

by Mark Tyson on 15 March 2017, 12:01

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Windows Vista

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Windows Vista has never seemed to be a popular OS. While people cling onto releases such as Windows XP and Windows 7, today's news is not probably going to cause much grief in the PC enthusiast community. Windows Vista (SP2) has entered its last full month of extended support. The ten year old OS actually has less than four weeks of such support left from Microsoft, with the line being drawn at 11th April.

Where's Windows Vista?

The end of extended support means the following: "Windows Vista customers will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft." Microsoft and partners will, from then on, be able to ignore the plight of Vista users, investing their resources in improving security and experiences for users of newer OSes.

Microsoft warns that those who continue to use Windows Vista might become more vulnerable to the security risks, malware, and viruses that are in the wild. Furthermore, software makers are optimising their applications and games for users of newer OSes which Vista users are missing out on. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft recommends that Vista stalwarts consider Windows 10 via upgrade, or to simply upgrade by splashing out on a new PC. According to NetMarketShare's latest figures, only 0.78 per cent of desktop OS users are running Vista.

Windows 7: next for the chop

We mentioned Windows 7 in the intro: if you are a '7' user, and this Vista news has made you a little uneasy, it's worth revisiting the Windows lifecycle fact sheet. Yes, Windows 7 (SP1) is the next Windows OS for the extended support chop. However, this event is nearly three years away - 14th January 2020 to be exact.



HEXUS Forums :: 13 Comments

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Oddly, Windows Server 2008 SP2 is supported until 14/1/2020!

Me thinks there will be a way to keep installing patches for a while….for those few people still left running that (probably on old laptops!)
Didn't they extend 2008 server support, i can't remember why or for how long though.
Yup, 2008 and 2008 R2 now have the same Jan 2020 date. It's just odd that Vista and 2008 share patches and Vista is going out of support while 2008 is not!
shaithis
Oddly, Windows Server 2008 SP2 is supported until 14/1/2020!
That is not even remotely odd at all…
I wonder what the other 0.4% are using? (My first thought was Chrome OS, but I assume that is in the Linux figure. Please say it isn't Windows ME)

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that there are still 1/3 as many online desktop computers running a ten year old and much maligned version of Windows as Linux. Does anybody know the breakdown of Linux distros?