This year 31 October frights are not limited to Halloween. Today is also the day Microsoft stops selling retail copies of both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
The date is written large in the Windows Life Cycle Fact Sheet but, like the best Halloween scares, the real threat is not as big as the initial shock.
This is how it breaks down:
From 31 October there will be no more sales to consumers of Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate. There will also be no more sales of Windows 8 retail box copies.
There will be retail box sales of Windows 8.1 (Microsoft draws a hard line between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1) and businesses and consumers will still be able to buy Windows 7 Professional licences through ‘Downgrade Rights’, but it will come at additional cost and have limited availability.
Windows 10 brings high hopes of fusing the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8
For those keen to act fast there will be a stock pile of licences for Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate floating around major OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like
A note of warning: a big market for Windows 7 licenses is likely to sprout up online, particularly on auction sites, but be careful. Microsoft's EULA (end user license agreement) makes selling on second hand copies null and void.
Read more: Windows 10 Technical Preview: Everything You Need To Know
Clearing House For Windows 10
What stands out on Microsoft’s life cycle page is how quickly the company is looking to bury Windows 8. Windows 7 sales have continued for two years after Windows 8's release and Windows 7 Professional continues to avoid the axe.
By contrast Microsoft is killing Windows 8 just two years and two months after launch and spending a great deal of time stressing Windows 8.1 is not Windows 8, despite the obvious fact that Windows 8 will upgrade to 8.1. This shows Microsoft’s determination to distance itself from the original form of Windows 8 and it is true that Windows 8.1 makes significant improvements to the user experience and is more intuitive to users coming from other versions of Windows.
Moreover this shows Microsoft is clearing house for Windows 10: the Windows 7/Windows 8 hybrid upon which it is hanging the future of the company. Windows 10 will run across mobile, tablet and PC and is being meticulously tested with a free Technical Preview (install guide and privacy warnings) to make sure it arrives to market in 2015 as something users love.
With Windows 7 still maintaining a 53% market share and Windows 8 sat on 6%, Microsoft cannot afford another failure.
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