Microsoft will no longer offer support for Windows 8 from tomorrow, Tuesday, the 12th of January. The end of support means millions of users will no longer receive security updates, unless they update to Windows 8.1. Computers with Windows 8 can be sold until the 30th of June this year, so we learn from Microsoft's Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet.
Windows 8.1 is listed as the latest update (or service pack) for Windows 8. Once Windows 8 users have updated to Windows 8.1 they receive mainstream support till the 9th of January 2018 and extended support ends on January 10th 2023. This means Windows 8.1 will continue to receive security hotfixes till 2023 but no more new features will be added after 2018.
Users of Windows 8 had 2 years time to upgrade to Windows 8.1. From tomorrow Windows 8 users are left in the cold and should upgrade more urgent than before upgrade.
To encourage users to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Microsoft states on their website, "Windows 8.1 does not change any hardware requirements compared with Windows 8 or Windows 7 and existing Windows Store apps will work with Windows 8.1. The update has little to no impact on existing desktop apps and there is no direct software cost because enterprise customers with Software Assurance licensing will receive Windows 8.1 as a free update. "
"For organizations running legacy applications that need to be upgraded, there are tools to manage deployment in order to help mitigate cost and impact", the software giant continues.
Windows 8 users are also not eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 10. Once updated to Windows 8.1 they have a year to upgrade to Microsoft's latest operating system.
The latest numbers of Net Applications show that still 2.8% of all users is on Windows 8, while 10.3% of the users is on Windows 8.1. Nevertheless, the 2.8% still represents millions of systems that after tomorrow no longer receive security updates and will over time become more and more vulnerable to malware and hacks.
