Microsoft Windows 7 extended support plan is about to end by 2020, what’s the right move?
Who wouldn’t fall in love with the first ever multitouch technology from Microsoft, particularly the Windows 7 OS? Released in October 2009, surprisingly reached over 630 million in license sales in July 2012, and still on record-high market share up to these days, Windows 7 is truly a brilliant software creation by Microsoft.
With intuitive features like the Jump Lists, Windows Essentials, Remote Media Streaming, and the full 64-bit support, this OS has made our everyday job faster, livelier and even better.
However, since Microsoft just stopped selling the retail software last October 31, 2013, question now is: is it time to say goodbye to your Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate and Professional Windows 7?
Well, if you’re in business and Windows 7 has been your partner for years in achieving higher sales revenue and better profitability, to be honest with you, I think it’s about time that you take the right software move if any of these OS is still running in your business PCs.
Now, let me further clarify you on that.
For Windows 7 Professional users, you still have a few more years to enjoy it. Despite the software retail ended on October 2013, end of sales for PCs with pre-installed Windows 7 isn’t over yet.
According to Windows life cycle fact sheet, by January 13, 2015, it’s the end of mainstream support for your Windows 7 SP1. This means that you will be exposed to potential risks concerning security, compliance, lack of ISV support and hardware manufacture support if you will keep on using the OS from this date onwards.
Now, if you still want to use Windows 7 for economical reasons, there are various options on hand. Here they are.
Avail Extended Support Plan
Signup your business for the Extended Support Plan and you’ll stay safe (against potential risks) until January 14, 2020. It’s that easy.
Downgrade Your Windows 8
Newer versions of Windows OS are, of course, offer better features than its predecessors. Having said that, what’s great about the new Windows 8 is that it is downgrade compatible. So another option is to downgrade your Windows 8 Pro computer system to Windows 7 Professional system. This downgrading process is a little bit tricky. Product key and installation disc for Windows 7 are needed so it is highly recommended that you consult your IT team for technical assistance.
Purchase a PC pre-installed with Windows 7
Another option available out there is to purchase a Windows 8 PC from Dell, HP, etc. pre-installed with Windows 7 professional. There is no need to conduct the tricky downgrading process yourself because Windows 8 Pro’s license downgrade rights have already did that for you.
There are a lot of practical reasons on why businesses will keep on using Windows 7. For instance, using Internet Explore 11 on your Windows 7 PC, instead of Windows 8, can still offer great experience at work. Now if you think that upgrading to the newest Windows version is already necessary, then go ahead.
Just to remind you that Microsoft announced recently that Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8.1 users.
So, what do you think?
