The end of extended support is planned for January 2020

Sep 7, 2018 05:43 GMT  ·  By

Windows 7 continues to be the world’s leading desktop operating system despite the rapidly approaching end of support in January 2020.

And since Microsoft has a hard time shrinking its market share and moving users to Windows 10, the company has already started its offensive to prepare the demise of Windows 7.

In addition to instructing partners to encourage the move to Windows 10 for their customers, Microsoft is now announcing that support for Windows 7 would be extended for two years.

This means that customers still on Windows 7 can get updates until 2023 if they purchase a custom update plan. Pricing hasn’t been disclosed because this is calculated based on a series of factors, and Microsoft will offer discounts to a series of customers who want to purchase Extended Security Updates (ESU).

More expensive updates in second year of support

As it was the case of Windows XP custom updates, the price of these patches would increase every year, as Microsoft insists for an upgrade to a newer version of Windows.

“The Windows 7 ESU will be sold on a per-device basis and the price will increase each year. Windows 7 ESUs will be available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing, with a discount to customers with Windows software assurance, Windows 10 Enterprise or Windows 10 Education subscriptions,” Microsoft explains.

“In addition, Office 365 ProPlus will be supported on devices with active Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023. This means that customers who purchase the Windows 7 ESU will be able to continue to run Office 365 ProPlus.”

Windows 7 currently has a market share of approximately 40 percent, still ahead of Windows 10. If the same trends are maintained, however, Windows 10 is likely to secure the leading spot by the end of the year, though it remains to be seen how much Windows 7 will collapse before the January 2020 deadline.