Microsoft Stops Sales Of Windows 7 Professional To OEMs

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
I love Windows 7. You love Windows 7. Everybody loves Windows 7. But, let's be honest, the only way Windows 8 and Windows 10 will overtake Windows 7 in market share is by finally killing it off. Hell, even then, it's going to take a while.

The original end-of-sales deadline for Windows 7 Professional was to be Oct. 31, 2014 -- two years after the launch of Windows 8 -- but early that year Microsoft broke with practice and only called for an end to consumer systems. It left open the cut-off for Windows 7 Professional, saying it would give a one-year warning before it demanded that OEMs stop selling PCs with that edition. Microsoft issued that warning a year ago. Organizations with enterprise licensing agreements and Software Assurance -- the annuity-like program that provides additional rights -- may continue to purchase new PCs, then downgrade the OS from the already-installed Windows 10 to Windows 7 if they want to keep using the older edition.
 
I'll be using Windows 7 till either I can't install it at all on a given platform or until something better comes along and that ain't Windows 10 and never will be.

In the immortal words of Mr. Hat I offer this to Microsoft: "You go to Hell, you go to Hell and you die!"

For reference:

 
If you thought XP was around forever, just wait. Windows 7 will be around for the next 10+ years if Microsoft doesn't pull their heads out with the consumer-hostile abomination that is Windows 10, and return to sanity in Windows 11.
 
Tiberian said:
I'll be using Windows 7 till either I can't install it at all on a given platform or until something better comes along and that ain't Windows 10 and never will be.

In the immortal words of Mr. Hat I offer this to Microsoft: "You go to Hell, you go to Hell and you die!"

For reference:

Click to expand...


I think MS is going to ramp up the annoyance for holdouts. I can imagine they'll do some shady stuff at risk of lawsuits just to force people off of it.

Keep a current backup, because one of these days you're going to come home to Windows 10 smiling at you with a s***eating grin.

cyclone3d said:
I like Windows 10 better than 7.

At this point, it is more stable and quicker than Windows 7
Click to expand...

As far as the OS and stability/speed, I like it. But there's still a few things that royally piss me off (usually revolving WU).

I also can't stand that everytime I fix my scanner drivers, WU feels it necessary to do something that makes them not work. So I have to jump through hoops again to fix them again. I use the scanner once a month or so, so literally the last 4 times I've gone to use it, it hasn't worked and a simply 2minute scan has turned into a 45minute driver reinstall / reboot and setting tweak frenzy.
 
Last edited:
And before everyone freaks out, places like Newegg still have OEM Windows 7 Pro in stock/for sale. Home/Ultimate can still be found around as well. I am trying to keep a few of the Home Premium and Pro OEM copies in stock for those who [still] ask for it. I guess if people keep buying it I'll keep getting them. :LOL:
 
cyclone3d said:
I like Windows 10 better than 7.

At this point, it is more stable and quicker than Windows 7
Click to expand...

Agreed, I use windows 10 at home and love it. I'm forced to use windows 7 on my work laptop since certain software refuses to behave on windows 10.

Spidey329 said:
I think MS is going to ramp up the annoyance for holdouts. I can imagine they'll do some shady stuff at risk of lawsuits just to force people off of it.

Keep a current backup, because one of these days you're going to come home to Windows 10 smiling at you with a s***eating grin.



As far as the OS and stability/speed, I like it. But there's still a few things that royally piss me off (usually revolving WU).

I also can't stand that everytime I fix my scanner drivers, WU feels it necessary to do something that makes them not work. So I have to jump through hoops again to fix them again. I use the scanner once a month or so, so literally the last 4 times I've gone to use it, it hasn't worked and a simply 2minute scan has turned into a 45minute driver reinstall / reboot and setting tweak frenzy.
Click to expand...

My only complaint with windows 10 was it's forced updates, I did the registry edit to make it think my connection was metered since windows will not download anything automatically while on a metered connection.
 
DPI said:
If you thought XP was around forever, just wait. Windows 7 will be around for the next 10+ years if Microsoft doesn't pull their heads out with the consumer-hostile abomination that is Windows 10, and return to sanity in Windows 11.
Click to expand...
Yeah out entire global company just barely finished the xp to 7 refreshes with new 10 pcs being tested. Our facility will be a Windows 7 one for a while and im glad.
 
I like Windows 10 better than 7 as far as pure OS function. However, all the privacy issues, resetting of features after updates, forced updates, etc. really bother me.
 
Steve said:
Microsoft Stops Sales Of Windows 7 Professional To OEMs
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
cyclone3d said:
I like Windows 10 better than 7.
Click to expand...

See, that's how it should be stated: as a personal opinion just like I say "I love Windows 7 better than anything else Microsoft has ever created (even slightly better than XP Pro x64 too which was awesome in spite of people hating it)" - it's when someone says "Windows 10 is better..." where the problems come from so kudos on stating your opinion in that manner.

At this point, it is more stable and quicker than Windows 7
Click to expand...

Now if you can define "stable" and "quicker" there you'd be getting someplace.

For me, stable means the OS is solid and dependable and doesn't crash - that has nothing to do with third-party application crashes, that means the operating system itself. Third-party applications can crash all they want and sometimes they do, but in terms of stability Windows 7 has not crashed on me in so long that I cannot even recall an instance of a BSOD in recent history (going back maybe 7-8 years since Windows 7 came out and that's across hundreds of machines I've worked with and several dozen that I've owned). I just looked at my Windows 7 Reliability info and it shows a flat line at 100% since January 2016 when I installed the OS on my current laptop, I don't know what else to say about stability than that.

Now as for speed, that can be tested and in my own testing using some fairly standard benchmarking tools Windows 7 on this laptop (Dell Latitude E6420, 128GB Samsung 830 OEM SSD, Intel Core i7-2640m dual core w/HT, 8GB DDR3 1600, Intel HD 3000 GPU, etc) produces better performance results than Windows 10 did. I say "did" there because I performed those tests last summer so I'm sure there have been some improvements to Windows 10 in the time that's passed but I'm not about to start all that over again just to check.

So here's the other opinion I'd state: "I don't like Windows 10 at all" and then I'd follow that with a statement of fact for myself only which would be "... and I can't find one damned thing interesting about it or compelling enough to make me run it as my primary OS - not even the fact that it was free of cost." Windows 7 was free of cost to me as well (came with the laptop so I know it's factored into the cost already but it didn't cost extra just to get Windows 7 Pro, basically).

I can do most anything faster on Windows 7 than I could with Windows 10 - it infuriated me pretty severely when I'd hit the Start key (on the keyboard with my left thumb) and start typing search keywords in Windows 10 and it would flood me with a bunch of shit I didn't want and wasn't looking for and in multiple instances, time and time again it wouldn't actually provide me what I was trying to get to in the first place. Windows 7? Not an issue, faster results and more relevant dare I say more accurate results from the minute I started using it and that continues.

Alas, I typed too much in my babbling again, don't mean to turn this into yet another 7 vs 10 debate or whatever.

But seriously, when I can't find one damned thing, not one single solitary thing - not even the free aspect - that would make me think "Yeah, I could make use of that..." with Windows 10, that's not a good thing in my opinion. ;)
 
DPI said:
If you thought XP was around forever, just wait. Windows 7 will be around for the next 10+ years if Microsoft doesn't pull their heads out with the consumer-hostile abomination that is Windows 10, and return to sanity in Windows 11.
Click to expand...

Microsoft has already driven over the cliff so a return to sanity isn't going to happen. It's all downhill from here.
 
The only reason I upgraded to 10 is because I couldn't get the full speed out of my Samsung 950 Pro on 7. But I really haven't had any issues with 10 so far.
 
Give me WMC for my Ceton 4 tuner and I would have converted long ago, until then 8.1 pro w/WMC for me.

Why MS does not embrace WMC is beyond me, it is the ONLY thing no one else has or can make work correctly. I bet a cable card add-on/adapter for XBONE would sell well and Sony couldn't touch it for a value added feature. Just think, "Buy XBone ditch your cable box", has a nice ring to it huh?
 
cyclone3d said:
I like Windows 10 better than 7.

At this point, it is more stable and quicker than Windows 7
Click to expand...
Care to detail how Windows 7 is unstable for you? It's been extremely dependable for me. If anything, I would view Windows 10 as less stable, because even if it works fine today, you never know what's going to get changed without your consent via updates. Windows 7 was made back before Microsoft laid off most of the QA department.
 
tetris42 said:
Care to detail how Windows 7 is unstable for you? It's been extremely dependable for me. If anything, I would view Windows 10 as less stable, because even if it works fine today, you never know what's going to get changed without your consent via updates. Windows 7 was made back before Microsoft laid off most of the QA department.
Click to expand...

At this point I couldn't go back to Windows 7 even if I wanted too as I'm using a lot of stuff now that's not supported under 7.
 
I like Windows 10 over 7, if you have a HIDPI screen it's much easier to live with in Windows 10 and having a taskbar on each screen is a feature I just can't live without anymore. Windows 7 isn't bad, but it's just not the best Windows available anymore. I predict that most people who are on 7 now will be forced to move over the next 5 years because hardware support is going to drop off.
 
Quix said:
I predict that most people who are on 7 now will be forced to move over the next 5 years because hardware support is going to drop off.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is already hassle to load 7 on a skylake compatible motherboard. I finally got a dvd with the added USB 3 drivers on it to 'see' my keyboard. I had no luck with the same ISO on a thumb drive.
 
I don't even like using Windows 7 anymore. There's pretty much nothing that isn't either the same or faster on 10.

I'd be perfectly happy if the apps just died and went away, but since I never even look at them, I could care less.
 
Advil said:
I'd be perfectly happy if the apps just died and went away, but since I never even look at them, I could care less.
Click to expand...

Apps are very important to Windows tablets and 2 in 1s that are now a pretty significant chunk of Windows now being sold. There's actually a good number out there now that a pretty good though many more are needed.
 
Quix said:
I like Windows 10 over 7, if you have a HIDPI screen it's much easier to live with in Windows 10 and having a taskbar on each screen is a feature I just can't live without anymore. Windows 7 isn't bad, but it's just not the best Windows available anymore. I predict that most people who are on 7 now will be forced to move over the next 5 years because hardware support is going to drop off.
Click to expand...

Declining PC sales have slowed this down a lot but Windows 7 is getting on the ancient side and support for new stuff is just going to continue to decline. Windows 10 adoption for the last two months has stalled but that will pick up as businesses inevitably do their migrations over the next three years.
 
Delicieuxz said:
Windows 10 is not equally stable to Windows 7, let alone more stable. Stable means no crashes, no bugs, and reliable. Windows 10 has plenty of crashes and bugs, and is inherently not reliable when it comes to updating, and its ability to remain, well, stable.

Windows 7 was stable since its release, and with SP1, Windows 7 pretty much provides the definition of stable. An OS can't be more stable than fully stable, which I think Windows 7 is. And Windows 10 is not fully stable. Windows 10 also will not ever be more stable than Windows 7. But if it ever manages to reach full stability, then it will be equally stable to Windows 7.
Click to expand...

No complex piece of software is completely stable and without flaws, there's still plenty in 7. I felt that Windows 10 wasn't as stable as Windows 7 at release but overall I'd say I'm having no more problems with 7 than 10 a year out from release. And while I did have some Windows 7 tablets and convertibles, Windows 10 works miles better and more solidly on those kinds of devices than 7.
 
Steve said:
I love Windows 7. You love Windows 7. Everybody loves Windows 7. But, let's be honest, the only way Windows 8 and Windows 10 will overtake Windows 7 in market share is by finally killing it off. Hell, even then, it's going to take a while.

The original end-of-sales deadline for Windows 7 Professional was to be Oct. 31, 2014 -- two years after the launch of Windows 8 -- but early that year Microsoft broke with practice and only called for an end to consumer systems. It left open the cut-off for Windows 7 Professional, saying it would give a one-year warning before it demanded that OEMs stop selling PCs with that edition. Microsoft issued that warning a year ago. Organizations with enterprise licensing agreements and Software Assurance -- the annuity-like program that provides additional rights -- may continue to purchase new PCs, then downgrade the OS from the already-installed Windows 10 to Windows 7 if they want to keep using the older edition.
Click to expand...

And how is that different from XP? XP would've been the default for years if they would have extended its life indefinitely. The only thing that might have gotten people to upgrade is 64bit and there's probably a lot of desktop work computer users that don't need more than that. I know the only reason we phased out XP was because of support. How do I know? Because when we bought 7 most machines were loaded with 32bit 7 (even for developers, which goes to show you can never underestimate how short sighted your IT bosses are).
 
Delicieuxz said:
Windows 10 is not equally stable to Windows 7, let alone more stable. Stable means no crashes, no bugs, and reliable. Windows 10 has plenty of crashes and bugs, and is inherently not reliable when it comes to updating, and its ability to remain, well, stable.

Windows 7 was stable since its release, and with SP1, Windows 7 pretty much provides the definition of stable. An OS can't be more stable than fully stable, which I think Windows 7 is. And Windows 10 is not fully stable. Windows 10 also will not ever be more stable than Windows 7. But if it ever manages to reach full stability, then it will be equally stable to Windows 7.
Click to expand...
Huh? You must have had the perfect 7 install. It was definitely stable, but I had times where it'd go for several days (even weeks) where it randomly crashed. It was always related to video drivers and I never found a fix, though it'd always mysteriously disappear for 3-9 months and then come back.

10 has had a few crashes. When it happens, it's crashes repeatedly and then it goes away. It hasn't happened in at least 4 months. I believe I had 3 instances of it happening since September of last year.

As for no bugs, you live in la la land. There is no bug free non-trivial software.

The only update that I recall causing problems was a major release last fall. No issues since, though I didn't get the anniversary update until a week ago (no idea why, but I didn't care one way or the other). I can promise you I had update issues with every other version of windows at one point or another. You really need to take off those rosies.
 
heatlesssun said:
Apps are very important to Windows tablets and 2 in 1s that are now a pretty significant chunk of Windows now being sold. There's actually a good number out there now that a pretty good though many more are needed.
Click to expand...
The calculator is better than on XP/7/10. It's smaller (if you resize it) and it's got far more functionality. I'd also be pissed if I lost my Netflix app. I don't use the app store that much, but I don't get the hate either.
 
nilepez said:
The calculator is better than on XP/7/10. It's smaller (if you resize it) and it's got far more functionality. I'd also be pissed if I lost my Netflix app. I don't use the app store that much, but I don't get the hate either.
Click to expand...

A lot of folks complained about the aesthetics of the UWA calculator but it's actually pretty nice with the dark theme now and yeah, the resizing and scaling are much improved over the classic desktop version. And stuff like Netflix, Hulu, WatchESPN, I use those all of the time now, they are better for content viewing that the websites. Then there are things like social media apps, games, etc. There's plenty of useful apps there for 10, not nearly enough.

I get that there are those that are opposed to UWAs for various reasons and don't use them. To me it's just another source of software and there's plenty there there's useful.
 
windows server 2012 r2 FTW! It is perhaps my favorite os in existence and will probrably be my favorite and go to for MANY years. Not once yet have I had a issue I had to spend days solving, as I have had with 10 8 vista linux more linux and hypervisors.
 
I don't get the hate. I feel like the same people who complained about having to give up their XP security-hole botnet machines are the ones complaining about having to get rid of 7. And no one is even saying you have to get rid of 7, just if you buy a modern OEM PC (which, let's be honest, is how many of us in here for our personal machines?) you're getting Windows 10. You can always use an old 7 key and downgrade if you can't handle 10 (7 keys are going for insanely cheap right now over on FS/FT), until the end of extended life support for Win 7 in 2020.
 
mstaab said:
Give me WMC for my Ceton 4 tuner and I would have converted long ago, until then 8.1 pro w/WMC for me.

Why MS does not embrace WMC is beyond me, it is the ONLY thing no one else has or can make work correctly. I bet a cable card add-on/adapter for XBONE would sell well and Sony couldn't touch it for a value added feature. Just think, "Buy XBone ditch your cable box", has a nice ring to it huh?
Click to expand...

Same here, except I'm on Windows 7 with Media center.

My main concern is that they will stop providing the channel guide, effectively killing the platform.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
And before everyone freaks out, places like Newegg still have OEM Windows 7 Pro in stock/for sale. Home/Ultimate can still be found around as well. I am trying to keep a few of the Home Premium and Pro OEM copies in stock for those who [still] ask for it. I guess if people keep buying it I'll keep getting them. :LOL:
Click to expand...

Is it piracy to download a product that they don't sell any more?
 
Maverick said:
I don't get the hate. I feel like the same people who complained about having to give up their XP security-hole botnet machines are the ones complaining about having to get rid of 7.
Click to expand...
For me it's blindingly simple:

I want to have full control over when and how my computer updates. I want to be able to rely on it COMPLETELY. If I'm doing time sensitive work, I want ZERO risk of an update screwing up something, not just a very low one. I've seen updates on 7 that to this day can still cause me problems with some of the software I run. On 7, I have the freedom to skip those specific ones. On Windows 10, I wouldn't, plus I don't know what else they have coming. I have no doubt Windows 10 could be running perfect for many today, but now, you have no guarantee it's going to REMAIN that way in the future. In my eyes, that's a vulnerability. It simply comes down to wanting control over my own system, because I depend on it. I'm still amazed how many technical-minded people are willing to give that up so readily.

And for the record, I was an early adopter of XP, skipped Vista, was slow to move to 7, but that was just out of laziness of not wanting to wrestle with all the software incompatibility / changes I had to deal with, not any sort of actual objection to it. Windows 10 sets a new paradigm that I find unacceptable and it leaves me uncertain what I want to do with my OS in the future.
 
We started getting the Lenovo ThinkPad P50 and P70 at work. These laptops are 15.6" and 17.3" respectively, with 4K screens. They come preloaded with Windows 7. It's kind of silly because Win7 doesn't scale high enough to be comfortably usable on these displays, but hey, you get Win7! Of course they are Win10-licensed laptops, they just come pre-downgraded. We also put Win10 on them right away and it looks super sexy on these screens at 200% DPI.

Our Dell 4K 17" laptops come preloaded with Win10. We still wipe it cuz lol preloaded OS but at least Dell is being logical.
 
Quix said:
I like Windows 10 over 7, if you have a HIDPI screen it's much easier to live with in Windows 10 and having a taskbar on each screen is a feature I just can't live without anymore. Windows 7 isn't bad, but it's just not the best Windows available anymore. I predict that most people who are on 7 now will be forced to move over the next 5 years because hardware support is going to drop off.
Click to expand...
There's this utility called UltraMon that I've only been using since WinXP. ;)
Independent taskbars / screensavers / wallpapers, custom resolutions, and a whole ton of other features.

I like the internal improvements in Win10, but the telemetry crap and Win3.11 UI a*spull are rather large negatives (for me anyway, to each his/her own).
Don't particularly need better DPI scaling, so what exactly makes Win7 an obsolete OS?

When I do want to play some of the latest titles, I just bootup a copy of Win10 that's sitting on its own little mSATA SSD.
 
There's nothing 'faster and more stable' about 10. They just reinstall the whole damn OS with an update every few months, often breaking desktop applications and resetting your privacy settings in the process.
 
So as I see from this thread there are at least two things going for windows 10: Feelings and the good old "it works for me.."
 
M76 said:
So as I see from this thread there are at least two things going for windows 10: Feelings and the good old "it works for me.."
Click to expand...
Don't forget "Google and Apple do it too!" or "If you've ever used a smartphone, you don't have privacy anymore anyway!"
 
heatlesssun said:
No complex piece of software is completely stable and without flaws, there's still plenty in 7. I felt that Windows 10 wasn't as stable as Windows 7 at release but overall I'd say I'm having no more problems with 7 than 10 a year out from release. And while I did have some Windows 7 tablets and convertibles, Windows 10 works miles better and more solidly on those kinds of devices than 7.
Click to expand...
Of course Win 10 works better on those devices since it is a partial tablet OS.
 
Maybe this is a big joke from MS and soon they will split the OS like they should have a while ago.
I have not played around with 10. Win 7 works just fine. I know people that run 10 its flawless, runs 9999x faster, and it cleans the bathrooms too.
I installed 10 on my sons computer. It worked the same as 7 with classic shell installed of course. It was no faster, smoother, or anything.
 
Hagrid said:
Maybe this is a big joke from MS and soon they will split the OS like they should have a while ago.
I have not played around with 10. Win 7 works just fine. I know people that run 10 its flawless, runs 9999x faster, and it cleans the bathrooms too.
I installed 10 on my sons computer. It worked the same as 7 with classic shell installed of course. It was no faster, smoother, or anything.
Click to expand...

Well, you install a 3rd party shell that adds overhead so of course, it is not going to be faster, smoother or anything. Why would they split the OS? Of what possible value would that be?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top