Farewell Windows 7
Windows 7 support officially ended yesterday and
with it a truly good time of one operating system as
reliable as good ol’ Windows XP. Since today only
customers with ESU subscription will receive updates.
With over 10 years of activity, Windows 7 is as successful as Windows XP if not more successful. The fact that a lot of people neglected Windows Vista and directly updated to Windows 7 and also the fact that Windows 7 still runs on one third of all Windows computers show that Windows 7 has still a very solid fan base even though Windows 10 was free to upgrade from Windows 7 since 2015. However the aggressive update policy took place in 2017 when Microsoft had first plans to drop support for Windows 7 but received a lot of feedback not to do so. This made Windows 7 live till yesterday, for private users that is (or for those private users willing to buy an ESU subscription for 80 US$ per year)
Extended Support is said to last until January 7th, 2023 which means another 3 years for paying users.
But although Windows 7 will no longer receive updates does not automatically mean you have to finish it off just now. However you have to be even more careful now when being online or opening attachments from unknown sources.
However you should think of updating Windows 7 to Windows 10 in the near future as even manufacturers and game developers will start dropping support for Windows 7 soon.
But let’s have a historical hike through time and development of Windows from it’s first version 1.01 in 1985 till today…
The following chart shows all windows versions ever released for desktops:
Windows version | Codenames | Release date | Release version | Editions | Latest build | Support status |
Windows 10 | Threshold, Redstone, | July 15, 2015 | NT 10.0 | Windows 10 Home | 18363 | All editions except LTSB/LTSC: Major versions serviced for 18 months from release date (30 months for Enterprise customers) |
YYHx | Windows 10 Pro | 2015 LTSB: Mainstream support until October 13, 2020; Extended support until October 14, 2025 | ||||
July 29, 2015 (Availability) | Windows 10 Pro for Workstations | 1909 (November 2019 Update) | 2016 LTSB: Mainstream support until October 12, 2021; Extended support until October 13, 2026 | |||
Windows 10 Pro Education | 2019 LTSC: Mainstream support until January 9, 2024; Extended support until January 9, 2029 | |||||
Windows 10 Enterprise | ||||||
Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC (formerly LTSB) | ||||||
Windows 10 Education | ||||||
Windows 10 IoT Core | ||||||
Windows 10 IoT Enterprise | ||||||
Windows 10 S | ||||||
See Windows 10 editions and Windows 10 version history | ||||||
Windows 8.1 | Blue | August 27, 2013 | NT 6.3 | Windows 8.1 | 9600 | Mainstream support ended on January 9, 2018 |
Windows 8.1 Pro | Extended support until January 10, 2023 | |||||
October 17, 2013 (Availability) | Windows 8.1 Enterprise | (April 8 update) | ||||
Windows 8.1 OEM | ||||||
Windows 8.1 with Bing | ||||||
Windows 8 | N/A | August 1, 2012 | NT 6.2 | Windows 8 | 9200 | Unsupported as of January 12, 2016 |
Windows 8 Pro | ||||||
October 26, 2012 (Availability) | Windows 8 Enterprise | |||||
Windows 8 OEM | ||||||
Windows 7 | Blackcomb, Vienna | July 22, 2009 | NT 6.1 | Windows 7 Starter | 7601 | Mainstream support ended on January 13, 2015 |
Windows 7 Home Basic | Extended support ended on January 14, 2020 | |||||
October 22, 2009 (Availability) | Windows 7 Home Premium | (Service Pack 1) | ||||
Windows 7 Professional | ||||||
Windows 7 Enterprise | ||||||
Windows 7 Ultimate | ||||||
Windows Thin PC | ||||||
Windows Vista | Longhorn | November 8, 2006 | NT 6.0 | Windows Vista Starter | 6002 | Mainstream support ended on April 10, 2012 |
Windows Vista Home Basic | Extended support ended on April 11, 2017 | |||||
January 30, 2007 (Availability) | Windows Vista Home Premium | (Service Pack 2) | ||||
Windows Vista Business | ||||||
Windows Vista Enterprise | ||||||
Windows Vista Ultimate | ||||||
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition | N/A | April 25, 2005 | NT 5.2 | N/A | 3790 | Mainstream support ended on April 14, 2009 |
Extended support ended on April 8, 2014 | ||||||
(Service Pack 2) | ||||||
Windows XP | Whistler | August 24, 2001 | NT 5.1 | Windows XP Starter | 2600 | Mainstream support ended on April 14, 2009 |
Windows XP Home | Extended support ended on April 8, 2014 | |||||
October 25, 2001 (Availability) | Windows XP Professional | (Service Pack 3) | ||||
Windows XP 64-bit Edition | ||||||
Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (July 8, 2006) | ||||||
Windows Me | Millennium | June 19, 2000 | 4.9 | N/A | 3000 | Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2003 |
Extended support ended on July 11, 2006 | ||||||
September 14, 2000 (Availability) | ||||||
Windows 2000 | N/A | December 15, 1999 (Release to Manufacturing) | NT 5.0 | Professional | 2195 | Mainstream support ended on June 30, 2005 |
Extended support ended on July 13, 2010 | ||||||
February 17, 2000 | ||||||
Windows 98 | Memphis | May 15, 1998 | 4.1 | Windows 98 | 2222 A | Mainstream support ended on June 30, 2002 |
Windows 98 Second Edition (April 23, 1999) | Extended support ended on July 11, 2006 | |||||
June 25, 1998 (Availability) | ||||||
Windows NT 4.0 | Shell Update Release, Cairo | July 31, 1996 | NT 4.0 | Windows NT 4.0 Workstation | 1381 | Mainstream support ended on June 30, 2002 |
Extended support ended on June 30, 2004 | ||||||
August 24, 1996 (Availability) | (Service Pack 6a) | |||||
Windows 95 | Chicago | August 15, 1995 | 4 | Windows 95 | 950 | Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2000 |
Windows 95 SP1 (December 31, 1995) | Extended support ended on December 31, 2001 | |||||
August 24, 1995 (Availability) | Windows 95 OSR1 (February 14, 1996) | |||||
Windows 95 OSR2 (August 24, 1996) | ||||||
Windows 95 USB Supplement to OSR2 (August 27, 1997) | ||||||
Windows 95 OSR2.1 (August 27, 1997) | ||||||
Windows 95 OSR2.5 (November 26, 1997) | ||||||
Windows NT 3.51 | Unknown | May 30, 1995 | NT 3.51 | Windows NT 3.51 Workstation | 1057 | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows NT 3.5 | Daytona | September 21, 1994 | NT 3.5 | Windows NT 3.5 Workstation | 807 | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows 3.2 | Unknown | November 22, 1993 | 3.2 | N/A | 153 | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 | Snowball | November 8, 1993 | 3.11 | N/A | 300 | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows NT 3.1 | NT/OS2 | July 27, 1993 | NT 3.1 | Windows NT 3.1 | 528 | Unsupported as of December 31, 2000 |
Windows 3.1 | N/A | April 6, 1992 | 3.1 | Windows 3.1 | 103 | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (October 1992) | ||||||
Windows 2.11 | N/A | March 13, 1989 | 2.11 | Windows/286 | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows/386 | ||||||
Windows 2.10 | N/A | May 27, 1988 | 2.1 | Windows/286 | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows/386 | ||||||
Windows 2.03 | N/A | December 9, 1987 | 2.03 | N/A | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows 1.04 | N/A | April 10, 1987 | 1.04 | N/A | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows 1.03 | N/A | August 21, 1986 | 1.03 | N/A | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows 1.02 | N/A | May 14, 1986 | 1.02 | N/A | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
Windows 1.0 | Interface Manager | November 20, 1985 | 1.01 | N/A | N/A | Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 |
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