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Windows clouds

Equally of yesterday, Microsoft has stopped selling Windows vii or Windows 8.1 to system builders. The but fashion to acquire a re-create of these operating systems at present is to purchase the dwindling stock still available online. Technically, about versions of Windows 7 were pulled off the market two years agone, simply Windows seven Professional person was nevertheless cleared for sale until October 31, equally were all of the flavors of Windows 8.i. The chart beneath shows Microsoft's sales nautical chart for preinstalled versions of Windows.

WindowsLifeCycle

Windows 10 is listed equally existence supported indefinitely because, according to Microsoft, it's the last version of the operating arrangement they're going to build. Whether that's actually true is a different question altogether, and I ultimately expect it isn't. There's a peachy deal of institutional expectation congenital into the idea of periodically updating 1'due south operating organisation, and Microsoft is the only company currently challenge its current OS is now a static flavor. Android, iOS, and macOS all still use version numbers, and I await Microsoft will somewhen release a "Windows eleven" every bit well, even if it automatically extends upgrades to all electric current users of Windows 10.

Every bit for back up, Microsoft too publishes a schedule for this:

MainStreamSupport

After a number of fits and starts, Microsoft has agreed to fully support Windows seven and eight.1 on all Intel Skylake and AMD Carrizo platforms through the planned end date for security fixes for those operating systems (January 2022 and 2023, respectively). Future platforms, similar Kaby Lake, Bristol Ridge, and all future APUs from AMD will merely be supported on Windows 10. Nosotros've previously discussed the long-term difficulty of keeping legacy hardware operational on unsupported platforms — the long and short of it is that while it'll probably be possible to shoehorn Windows 7 or 8.one on to newer hardware, information technology'll become progressively difficult every bit chipset drivers change and new hardware capabilities are added to both platforms. This could be particularly problematic on laptops, where a lack of support for modernistic power management baked into newer chips could lead to poor battery life.

Windows 10 adoption has slowed in the full general populace, simply gamers continue to adopt the OS in adequately big numbers. Windows x 64-scrap holds 47.28% of the Steam marketplace, with Windows vii 64-bit hanging on at 28.99%. Windows 8.1 64-bit is in third place, at 8.63%. Thank you to the WayBackMachine, we can see how adoption has shifted over the last 12 months. In 2022, Windows seven 64-bit was the most popular OS at 37.48%, with Windows 10 64-bit at 23.99% and Windows viii.one 64-bit at 18.62%.

This confirms a trend that we've noticed before: Windows seven users are noticeably more than "gummy" than Windows 8.ane owners, or older users on 32-bit operating systems. While shares of both older OSes have dropped, Windows 7 64-bit is down viii.49%, while Windows viii.1 64-chip is downwards 10%. Whether this reflects user unwillingness to update off Windows vii or the fact that more Windows 7 owners had older hardware and are less probable to be on an upgrade path in general is not clear.