Time for Microsoft to bring its modern operating systems into the spotlight. Windows 7 OEM license sales are soon to be part of history, with the company ending sales of such installations by the end of this month.
October 31 is the cutoff date, after which Redmond will no longer provide partners, hardware manufacturers and OEMs with Windows 7 licenses for new PCs. These companies will now be required to make a switch to a newer version of the operating system.
Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate are all getting the chop — though Windows 7 Professional will continue to be available this way for the time being.
Microsoft is sure to announce a deadline for this flavor of Windows 7 too very soon.
Redmond obviously expects partners to focus on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 for new PCs, and both modern operating systems are now available for licensing this way. At the same time, Windows 8.1 with Bing is also an option or hardware vendors.
The important bit here is that Windows 7 PCs will not disappear this Friday, they will be surely be available for purchase until inventories clear out.
And besides, support will continue to be offered. Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 mainstream support is set till January 13, 2015, while the extended support period ends January 14, 2020.
But this much is certain, the time of Windows 7 is slowly coming to an end.
source:eyeonwindows
