Two contrasting reports have emerged in the past few days regarding the Windows 7 retail sales status. But now Microsoft has jumped in and ended the confusion once and for all.
News first came out that the company had ended retail sales of the popular Windows 7 in October. OEM sales, however were said to be unaffected, with computers running this particular version of the operating system set to be sold for another year, until the end of October, 2014.
Soon after this the company updated the page to state that the end date for Windows 7 retail sales was yet to be determined. Now, however, it has issued a new final statement on the matter.
The company clarifies that it was, in fact, all a mistake — the lifecycle page was edited for no reason:
“We have yet to determine the end of sales date for PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled. The October 30, 2014 date that posted to the Windows Lifecycle page globally last week was done so in error.”
Microsoft also confirmed that the retail sales of Windows 7 ended as originally planned on October 30, 2013. And likewise, the sales of computers running the operating system will continue for the time being, to the delight of many that are planning upgrades from Windows XP, no doubt.
Windows 7 is currently the most popular operating system in the world, by far, with third-party estimates of its global market share coming in at over 45 percent.
All Comments
Im currently using Windows 7 as my primary OS, and plan on doing so for another few years. I have tried and used Windows 8 and for many of its benefits, it was simply too much of a compromise on a 27″ screen. Windows 7 will be the next XP, and many corporations will start looking outside of Windows by the time its support cycle ends in 2020. Windows 8 is great on tablets and laptops depending on usage, but Windows 7 is still better for my usage case.
Sure seems like this, but I’d say once the Windows 8/8.1 platform really matures, in all respects, then the user base will start moving away from Windows 7. It is all a matter of time.
Corporate business, well hard to say, but with Linux distributions continually improving, some may switch. Ultimately it comes down to just how much polish Microsoft gives its Modern operating systems by that time.
Outside of Windows is fine by more than one accounts, but legacy Windows applications and current Windows software also has a big say in all this. And there is no other platform that touches the software selection Windows has to offer, nothing come even close.