Posted on 07/19/2015 4:55:02 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft today refreshed its Windows support lifecycle fact sheet to include Windows 10, saying there that it would provide updates to the new OS for 10 years, or until October 2025.
The new information puts to rest one of the biggest remaining questions about Windows 10: what has Microsoft meant since January by describing the policy as running for the supported lifetime of the device when it described the operating system's support timeline?
"The traditional 10-year support lifecycle applies to all SKUs [stock-keeping units]," a Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed in a follow-up email [emphasis added]. SKUs represent the various editions of the OS, such as Windows 10 Home, the primary consumer-grade version, Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise.
The fact sheet now includes a one-line mention that lists "Windows 10, released in July 2015," a departure from the name-only practice that showed "Windows 8" for that operating system but sans a date.
Windows 10 will be supported for five years in "mainstream" support until Oct. 13, 2020, and then another five years in "extended" support until Oct. 14, 2025.
Traditionally, Microsoft has split the decade of OS support into those two categories, offering both security and bug fixes in mainstream but only security updates in extended.
Windows 10, however, will use a new -- and for Microsoft, a radical -- approach where feature and functional, UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) changes will be delivered on a continual cadence to make good on its claim of "Windows as a service." That's a major departure from the past, even from Windows 8, which was updated 12 months after its debut with new features and functionality by Windows 8.1.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
No Windows Media Center in Windows 10, so I am sticking with Windows 7 Ultimate on my home theater computer for the duration.
For your list, Day. . .
It was not my decision when my Lenovo Win 7 Ultimate took a dive, so I had to get a new laptop, and of course, with Win 8.1, within the last 6 weeks, so I am not so ‘cuckoo for cocoapuffs’ to jump out and get the next Win number in the series.
And none of this matters.
They’ve still lost my 65 YO mother, my 65 YO MIL and my FIL...
Nobody is considering the huge cohort of older people when they make these sweeping changes.
(honestly, I’m only 44 and I just bought a new computer with Windows 7... Can’t comprehend the stupid ‘tile’ thing.)
Just got a new Dell Inspirion 660 a couple weeks ago with Windows 8.1, took a little to get started after coming off Vista. Had a offer pop up on the computer for a free upgrade to Windows 10 but I thought it best to pass it by at this time.....correct move or not?
Go to windows version of google play and find a free one.
Great question. I’m always dubious on “upgrades” if what I have is working properly currently.
Windows 8 has been what kept us from upgrading. I am hoping it is back to being enough like Windows 7 that the change won’t be terrible.
My encounters with 8 were horrible. Microsoft seems to want everyone to actually type the name of any program you need that’s not in a square on your screen. I tried to help a neighbor with it, and after 45 minutes, apologized for not fixing her problem. If it was any version prior, it would have been a piece of cake.
Microsoft shot itself in the foot with 8/8.1. It’s utterly crazy to make the desktop harder to use than a phone (no one uses—Windows Mobile). Why do I have to type, “Solitaire” only to find it did or did not find it? How do I know what Microsoft called the “Device Manager” in this new version (as Microsoft always renames basic things differently between versions)? Start typing in the search bar and see if you can get lucky.
Absolutely stupid to the greatest degree, possible.
Sorry about the rant.
Likely a good move. Microsquish is famous (or infamous) for letting the “early adopters” be the beta testers for their new OS.
CC
Lately, though, I have been totally stumped by cell phones, apps and SW applications. Either I've started to go into decline, or the high tech industry has decided that user friendliness is not so important.
You will have access to the free upgrade for a year after release.
You have a new computer, so less to have to back up. I would wait a month or two to let issues work themselves out.
On another thread a poster referred to the changes as “BFD”...
My response...
The problem is that we still have Boomers who cannot comprehend ‘copy-paste’ functions... who’s CHILDREN have spent HUNDREDS OF HOURS on the freaking phone walking them through a basic email setup and NOW who have to learn something NEW.
BFD??
YES!
In my family, this is a really, REALLY BFD!
My mother’s been without a computer for 8 months because she can’t understand Windows 8 tiles. NOBODY can explain it to her.
For her, computers are over. She’s DONE. FOREVER. This ended emails, FB, videos of her great granddaughter, Google, YouTube videos... all of it. She just can’t.
This leap was too big for a lot of older people. I’ve got two others who’ve been left behind and one who never caught up after Windows 98.
You can load software to make windows 8 look just like windows 7.
Look up “classic shell” for windows 8.
The other thing that people MAY not be able to comprehend is that, for many people, the computer is just a basic tool.
We don’t want to spend hours mastering a new computer skill. We’ve got other things that we’d like to focus our time on.
I know how to drive a car. Don’t phase out basic driving techniques and insist that I only learn how to drive with my tongue. Sure. I might be able to master it, but I’ve got limited time left on this planet and I DO NOT want to spend it on this crap.
Just let me Google, FB, FR, Amazon, etc. Let me be able to make a file and sort my bookmarks as usual. Let me email.
Easy peasy...
Now I can go learn how to grow tomatoes instead of learning a new OS.
Let me ask you this.
Do you have to take a full evening out of your life to recalibrate your car so that you don’t have to drive it with your tongue?
Why should I, the customer, have to loose a full evening of my precious time trying to make my computer work in a way that is comprehensible to me?
Agree with your logic, I’ve got the 8.1 running well so really no need to cause myself aggravation if I can avoid it.
It’s not welfare.
MS is under no obligation to retard their product development because old people think they are entitled to a static product or they have no desire to learn new features.
Like what company does this?
Microsoft made 8 ONLY to unify programmers into a paradigm that would make phone applications a simple recompile. However laudable this must have seemed, they turned off every single friend and family member, and left me apoplectic when sitting in front of a neighbor's computer.
This is not good, when I have extensive wide-area network and computer knowledge from my experience in the computer industry since 1981.
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