Rejoice Skylake users, cause Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 is finally coming to your PC (only if you’re unhappy with Windows 10). Microsoft has finally updated their policy proudly announcing their partnership with Intel to finally bring Windows 7 and 8.1 to PCs.
Last week, Microsoft announced the end of their Free Upgrade program which allowed users to get a free upgrade to Windows 10 if they had a genuine copy of Windows 7 or 8.1. It was at that time I decided to go back to Windows 7. Don’t get me wrong, Windows 10 is great, but sometimes, using an OS that you like just makes your work on your PC just a bit more enjoyable.
In a recent policy update, Microsoft highlighted some key points in their blogpost about their new policy, they highlighted:
- Today Windows 7 is in extended support and support will end for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, and support for Windows 8.1 will end January 10, 2023.
- 6th Gen Intel Core devices on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be supported with all applicable security updates until the end of support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
- This change is made possible through the strong partnership with our OEM partners and Intel who will be performing security update validation testing and upgrade testing for 6th Gen Intel Core systems running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 through the end of support dates.
- As previously communicated earlier this year, future silicon platforms including Intel’s upcoming 7th Gen Intel Core (Kaby Lake) processor family and AMD’s 7th generation processors (e.g. Bristol Ridge) will only be supported on Windows 10, and all future silicon releases will require the latest release of Windows 10.
Considering that there is some time till Kaby Lake, Windows 7 is still a great option overall unless you want the added features of Windows 10.
According to Microsoft, the need for them to do this was to cater users to migrate to Windows 10 and modern hardware to keep getting them security updates.
This policy update made it pretty clear, that the upcoming Kaby Lake or even AMD’s Bristol Bridge CPUs will require Windows 10.
Sources: Eteknix, Windows Blog
