Microsoft is charging for Windows 7 updates?
Oh click bait.
I wouldn't really say that Microsoft is charging for Windows 7 updates. They are continuing to offer paid patches, increasing in cost year over year, and effectively, only to corporate users.
To the average person this may sound weird. And, indeed, I think it is even a bit weird seeming even for Microsoft.
So, let's start. Why not everyone? Easy. Microsoft has ended support for Windows 7. It is two editions and many YEARS old. They don't want ANYONE running it. It just means more code for them to maintain. If they opened this program up to mainstream customers then they really would be charging for Windows 7, and they'd also have a harder time ever retiring it or implementing that annual increasing price.
Next you might ask, why then are they doing this at all? Also simple. Windows 7 was wildly successful. And businesses move slowly. In fact, many companies may have just finished transitioning off Windows XP to Windows 7 not long ago despite the respective ages of those operating systems. Microsoft is being sensitive to this fact, but, that requires allotting resources to patch bugs and security holes that they want to assign elsewhere. The costs help offset that effort.
The annual increase in the cost is meant as a deterrent against using this as a long term solution. At some point, it will simply become more cost effective to migrate everyone to Windows 10, or suffer without security patches.
And that is all I really have to say about that.
I wouldn't really say that Microsoft is charging for Windows 7 updates. They are continuing to offer paid patches, increasing in cost year over year, and effectively, only to corporate users.
To the average person this may sound weird. And, indeed, I think it is even a bit weird seeming even for Microsoft.
So, let's start. Why not everyone? Easy. Microsoft has ended support for Windows 7. It is two editions and many YEARS old. They don't want ANYONE running it. It just means more code for them to maintain. If they opened this program up to mainstream customers then they really would be charging for Windows 7, and they'd also have a harder time ever retiring it or implementing that annual increasing price.
Next you might ask, why then are they doing this at all? Also simple. Windows 7 was wildly successful. And businesses move slowly. In fact, many companies may have just finished transitioning off Windows XP to Windows 7 not long ago despite the respective ages of those operating systems. Microsoft is being sensitive to this fact, but, that requires allotting resources to patch bugs and security holes that they want to assign elsewhere. The costs help offset that effort.
The annual increase in the cost is meant as a deterrent against using this as a long term solution. At some point, it will simply become more cost effective to migrate everyone to Windows 10, or suffer without security patches.
And that is all I really have to say about that.
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