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Microsoft extends support for Skylake processors on Windows 7 and 8.1

By Koh Wanzi - on 21 Mar 2016, 3:11pm

Microsoft extends support for Skylake processors on Windows 7 and 8.1

Microsoft announced back in January that it would be limiting support for new processors to Windows 10, in addition to setting a July 17, 2017 deadline (after which security and other updates would be halted) for users of older operating systems to upgrade to Windows 10. As it turns out, Microsoft probably received more than a little negative feedback from its customers who are in no hurry to upgrade to Windows 10. The company has now softened its stance on the matter and extended the end of support for older OSes by a year to July 17, 2018.

While that should mollify customers somewhat, Microsoft also tweaked its policy regarding security updates beyond the 2018 deadline. After the deadline expires, users who are still running Windows 7 or 8.1 on Skylake systems will continue to receive critical patches until the end of mainstream support for the respective OSes, which is January 2020 for Windows 7, and January 2023 for Windows 8.1.

There are plenty of reasons why certain enterprises may not have upgraded to Windows 10, and the extra year can give them valuable time to carry out the required planning and testing.

However, Microsoft is still sticking to its previous policy that after Skylake, it will only support the latest generation silicon from AMD and Intel on Windows 10. But because it’s making this clear ahead of time, enterprises and home users should hopefully have enough time to prepare to make the necessary upgrades.

Source: AnandTech

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