Microsoft has announced that the latest offerings by Intel, AMD and Qualcomm will receive complete support only on its Windows 10 desktop platform. Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President for Windows and Devices Group, said in a statement that the Windows 10 OS has already got more than 200 million active devices and the number are rapidly growing.
Microsoft, has, however, confirmed that they will be providing long-term support for the previous generations of processors for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 as well. Even when the adoption rate of the Windows 10 is one of the fastest in the history of Windows, still, there are many users who will favour old operating systems rather than the new one.
The date for the end of support for the systems running on Windows 7 is up till January 14, 2020, and for the Windows 8.1 users, the support is till January 10, 2023. These updates will be available for both the consumer and enterprise markets.
Also read: Microsoft urges users to upgrade to Windows 10 by ceasing support for Windows 7 or older
There a few things that Windows had written on its blogs. Some of the points are listed below.
- ‘Windows 7 will continue to be supported for security, reliability, and compatibility through January 14, 2020, on previous generation silicon. Windows 8.1 will receive the same support through January 10, 2023. This includes most of the devices available for purchase today by consumers or enterprises.’
- ‘Through July 17, 2017, Skylake devices on the supported list will also be supported with Windows 7 and 8.1. During the 18-month support period, these systems should be upgraded to Windows 10 to continue receiving support after the period ends. After July 2017, the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed for these configurations, and will be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.’
- ‘Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support. This enables us to focus on deep integration between Windows and the silicon while maintaining maximum reliability and compatibility with previous generations of platform and silicon. For example, Windows 10 will be the only supported Windows platform on Intel’s upcoming “Kaby Lake” silicon, Qualcomm’s upcoming “8996” silicon, and AMD’s upcoming “Bristol Ridge” silicon.’
Gamers should definitely update to the Windows 10 operating system as it comes with updates for DirectX 12 API, which is developed to provide much more than just optimum performance on your hardware. Upcoming titles will have support for this API too.
