14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re not a big fan of Windows 10 and planning to purchase a new computer, you'd better hurry up because this month both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 reach their end-of-sales deadlines.
October 31 is the last day when you are able to purchase a new computer running any of the two operating systems, with Microsoft to then focus exclusively on Windows 10 for new configurations.
But even though both Windows 7 and 8.1 are reaching their end-of-sales dates this month, this doesn’t necessarily mean that PCs that come with these versions pre-installed will disappear all of a sudden. Microsoft will still allow sales of devices that were in stock before the deadline, but no new units would be shipped starting November 1.
Windows 10, the only version pre-installed on new PCs
Moreover, what’s important to note is that this deadline only refers to sales and has nothing to do with updates. Both Windows 7 and 8.1 will continue to receive updates until January 2020 and January 2023, respectively.
“End of sales refers to the date when a particular version of Windows is no longer shipped to retailers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Examples of OEMS are Dell and Toshiba - PC manufacturers who often preinstall Windows software,” Microsoft explains.
“Note that when the retail software product reaches its end of sales date, it can still be purchased through OEMs (the company that made your PC) until it reaches the end of sales date for PCs with Windows preinstalled.”
Windows 10 will thus become the only Windows version that comes pre-installed on new PCs, and Microsoft expects this decision to help boost the adoption of the new operating system. The firm had a goal of installing Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by FY2018, but it recently admitted that this target could be missed due to a slowdown in adoption trends.
It remains to be seen if this end-of-sales date is going to change anything, but given that new customers have pretty much no other option than using Windows 10, there’s a big chance that adoption will be improved.