Microsoft has announced that they will formally end support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020.
In advance of that date, Microsoft will require all PC manufacturers to end further installation of Windows 7 — but on October 31, 2018. Up to that date, some manufacturers can sell you a PC with Windows 7 installed. In some cases, the PC would come with Windows 10 installed and an option to downgrade it to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
On November 1, 2018, all PCs sold must come with Windows 10 installed. No downgrade allowed.
The exception is Microsoft Volume License Agreement (VLA). In looking at the news articles, it isn’t clear if you can buy the VLA after October 31 and still get the downgrade option. If it is critical for your business to stay on Windows 7 on new hardware, you need to address this issue.
On the other hand, there are very few good reasons to stay on Windows 7. Farsight has dealt with software companies that were slow to upgrade to Windows 10 support. The customer had to ‘live with’ Windows 7. And in one case, the new version had issues. That isn’t that unusual.
Although the official free upgrade to Windows 10 has passed, there is a way to upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost (but time). If you need help with that, let us know.
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