Microsoft stops sales of Windows 7 Professional to OEMs

The end of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 left only Windows 10 as a long-term choice for OEMs that pre-load Windows on their wares.

The original end-of-sales deadline for Windows 7 Professional was to be 31 October 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.

Organisations with enterprise licensing agreements and Software Assurance – the annuity-like programme 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.

And new Windows 7 Professional PCs won’t vanish immediately; OEMs will be allowed to use what licenses they have in stock.

Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows 7 even though it remains the most popular operating system on the planet. Windows 7 has lost about a fifth of its user share since the mid-2015 launch of Windows 10, but according to analytics vendor Net Applications, it powered 48% of all personal computers in October, more than twice Windows 10’s share.

Windows 7 support is to continue until January 2020, giving users just over three years to migrate to another operating system.