Death of Windows 7 OEM Sales Posted in Error
Windows 7 for OEMs still may have some life left.
Last week we reported that Microsoft quietly updated its operating system lifecycle chart with the end of sale dates for Windows 7. The company discontinued the sale of Windows 7 as a standalone retail product on October 30, 2013, followed by the end of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled on October 30, 2014. That has now changed.
The chart now shows the end of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled as "to be determined." A Microsoft rep told Computerworld that the company has yet to determine when Windows 7 will no longer be sold to OEMs. The date posted last week was done so in error.
"We are confirming that the retail software end of sales date for Windows 7 did happen on October 30, 2013," the Microsoft rep said. So much for buying a copy at Best Buy or Office Depot.
Typically, Microsoft will stop selling an older operating system in retail around one year after its successor hits the market. The company also typically waits two years after the launch of the new version to halt the delivery of the older OS to OEMs. The previous October 30, 2014 OEM end of sales date for Windows 7 fits the pattern.
Computerworld speculates that Microsoft may be telling OEMs that very date, but did not want to publicize the information at this time. "We'll have more details to share about the Windows 7 lifecycle once they become available," a Microsoft rep said on Tuesday.
As pointed out last week, Microsoft's end-of-retail-sales date is a meaningless deadline, as many online retailers will continue to sell the software long after Microsoft pulls the plug. Although Microsoft itself has pulled Windows 7 from its virtual shelves, Amazon remains stocked full of various versions of Windows 7, as does tech specialist Newegg. Even some of Newegg's partners still carry Windows Vista and Windows XP.

The answer is Windows 8 done right. So far, it's been shackled with a miserable interface, that requires user customization to make it productive. Windows 8.2 is supposed to be what we want - a better Windows 7, and it better be.
Windows 7 sucks. I use 8.1 and don't want to go back to it. It's obsolete and slow. It has no reason to exist, except Microsoft keeps being stupid with Windows 8.
Windows 8.1 is clearly better than Windows 7 for most people here, since we can customize it and make it work the way we need it to, but that's not the point. The mass of people that have to deal with the excruciatingly annoying interface and don't have the skill to customize it properly are being disserviced by this idiotic tablet interface.
But, folks, we should be happy about all this. Microsoft thought they could bludgeon the market and force whatever they wanted on it, and failed miserably. Now they know they have to answer to us, because we finally, collectively, rejected their BS product and forced them to change it.
Buying something that requires extensive customization to work properly on its intended device, or being forced to use an obsolete OS instead is not acceptable, unless you have no choice. Now we have choices, and Microsoft has to make better ones because of it.
It looks like 8.2 will be what we want. If it is, you'll forget about Windows 7, if it isn't, you'll forget about Microsoft. It's up to them.
Microsoft, always forward thinking . . . /rolleyes
They also did the normal slew of benchmarks, which show Windows 8.1 isn't much faster, maybe 6% or so. This includes games, of course. But, I read the review on this, and was pretty surprised by such a low number (6%), until I read the final verdict. When you use Windows 8, it just does everything faster. Everything seems snappier. 6% seems low to me, but it all depends on what you're measuring.
After being surprised by the low number, the reviewer than said that it made a big difference, because it didn't have all the choppiness of Windows 7, but I guess that part didn't show up.
I'm not going to lie, I was prepared to hate Windows 8.1. I bought it because I could get the retail version for $110 instead of $300 for Windows 7, that's it. After I installed it, I was pretty surprised at the speed. You'd have to use it to see what I mean. After I customized it and learned all the new features, I prefer it to Windows 7.
I use Windows 7 at work still, and I can't say I hate it by any stretch, while I do hate some things about Windows 8, but it feels really old in a way that Windows XP never felt to me when Windows 7 came out. Windows 8 is a better OS, no question there, and the answer isn't to keep using a miserable OS like 7, which truly sucks, just not as bad as Vista. It's just too slow, and too demanding of resources. Windows 8 fixed that part, at least somewhat, and added nice features. The answer isn't going back to the obsolete and inefficient Windows 7, it's to use the superior OS in Windows 8, and make the interface actually usable on the desktop.
I could understand people like Windows XP (I preferred Windows 2000), because it did what you needed, didn't require a lot of resources, and did things fast. Windows 7 is a bloated, flatulent pig. We only accepted it because Vista was such a nightmare, it seemed good, and because Windows 8 has an absurd interface for the desktop. But, it's only good by comparison with two failures, not on its own merit.
That's why XP still commands over 30% of the market, despite being replaced over seven years old. People don't want the Windows 7 bloat, so they have to cling to a very old OS, because the new one still sucks.
They fixed one problem, and then created another with the stupid interface. When they move to an appropriate interface, and with the Windows 7 gas problem less of an issue in Windows 8, they'll have a winner.
They haven't since Windows 2000 in my opinion, or Windows XP in the opinion of many others. That's why they still hold on. If Windows 7 were truly a good OS, Windows XP would be virtually forgotten. As it is, it will only disappear due to lack of hardware support (which is the only reason I didn't use it).