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Vista support ending, W7 "not that far" behind and a W8 question.

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mooly
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Posted January 3, 2012 at 7:28PM

I see that Vista "mainstream" support is ending this April.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=Windows+Vista&Filter=FilterNO

What actually is "mainstream" support ? as "extended" support is also mentioned.

W7 follows in only 3 years and yet W7 is (naturally) still being pushed hard.

When W8 is getting near for general release do you think PC manufacturers will offer the option of a "free W7 to W8 upgrade disc" as has happened before ?

And I also wonder if you will be able to clean install from that as you have been able to in the past with W7 and Vista. Having witnessed just how good "clean installing" can be compared to an upgrade route or a PC burdoned with "bloatware" that would perhaps be an ideal time to consider a new PC/Laptop.

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sunnystaines

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Posted January 4, 2012 at 9:04AM

mooly

i am holding back waiting for a similar offer before getting a new lappy but expect a wait till late summer

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Terry Brown

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Posted January 4, 2012 at 11:17AM

It begs the question, What does Microsoft have in the pipeline after Windows 8, and how soon they will promote it??--my guess 2012-2013

Terry

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mooly

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Posted January 4, 2012 at 11:48AM

Morning folks, Yes I'm kind of holding off too. My Acer will be 6 yr old when W8 launches so hope it lasts out 'till then :)

It will be interesting to see what developments come in future releases. I'm sure W9 or whatever it will be called is probably already well into development... but we are still stuck with the same methods of communicating with our PC's.

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Muergo

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Posted January 4, 2012 at 8:14PM

The leading news article in this PC Advisor is still manipulating statistics quoting a large percentage drop in usage of XP.

Cutting through the fog of statistics it shows that XP still has 46% of the global market, Vista disappearing into obscurity and most telling is that projection for this year when Windows 8 launches, Windows7 will still have only reached 50-53% , and that because new machines come with W7 already loaded.

I am running W7 purely because I bought a new PC but can easily see that I will stay with that until Windows 9 or 10, when this PC gives up the ghost in eight years time if I haven't gone before!

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Woolwell

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Posted January 4, 2012 at 10:44PM

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Muergo

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Posted January 4, 2012 at 11:40PM

Microsoft may try to enforce their support policy but it only takes a few large corporate customers, WalMart, Federal Govt, oil companies etc to put pressure on them for these policies to become elastic, after all it's a big upheaval to change an operating system apart from the cost of retraining and implementing thousands of stations.

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Forum Editor

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Posted January 5, 2012 at 12:04AM

Muergo

"The leading news article in this PC Advisor is still manipulating statistics...."

Perhaps you would like to withdraw that defamatory statement? If you don't we'll be dispensing with your forum presence. Criticise our editorial style as much as you like, but be very careful about publishing such offensive rubbish.

The latest published statistics (December 2011) show that Windows XP has a 42.8% market share. Windows 7 has 32.03% and Vista has 7.76.

In December 2010 the figures were 56.73%, 20.87% and 12.11%

Two of those figures have gone down and one has gone up. Why on earth would we want to manipulate those statistics? I invite you to tell me - you can do it when you post your apology.

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mooly

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Posted January 5, 2012 at 8:08AM

Thanks for the link Woolwell

Does "end of support" mean that Vista will no longer receive any more updates ? and by implication that W7 will be "vulnerable" in exactly the same way in only 3 years from now.

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Woolwell

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Posted January 5, 2012 at 10:29AM

Mooly - The end dates that you have seen refer to versions which do not have the Service Packs (SP). People with Vista should have SP2 and according to this document then its support ends in 2017 (no updates after that). There is no date for Windows 7.

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mooly

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Posted January 5, 2012 at 11:26AM

I'm still not sure :)

To me it reads as though support for SP2 for us "ordinary punters" ends this April.

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