Enlarge / An Asus ZenBook with Windows 8.
Andrew Cunningham
According to StatCounter, Windows 8 and 8.1 still account for about 4.3 percent of the Windows installation base worldwide, much less than Windows 11, Windows 10, or even Windows 7. But for people who still use Windows 8.1, the end of the line is insight. ZDNet reports that Microsoft will soon begin sending notifications to remaining Windows 8.1 users, warning them that support and security updates will end on January 10, 2023, and recommending that they be moved to a newer operating system (Windows Support 8.0 ended in 2016). ).
Microsoft provided similar end-of-support messages to Windows 7 users when its updates ran out in January 2020. ZDNet says users will be able to click notification messages for more information or ignore them until after end date of support. above.
This January 2023 date seems to be a hard cut. Microsoft says it has no plans to offer ongoing Windows 8.1 security updates to companies that decide to pay for them, as it has done with Windows 7. Companies willing to spend money can still get security updates for Windows 7 through 2023, but Windows 7 still works on 13 percent of all Windows computers worldwide. It justifies the continued effort and expense on the part of Microsoft in a way that continuing to support Windows 8, much less popular, would not.
Announcements
Remaining Windows 8 users who are not ready to replace their computers can still earn time upgrading to Windows 10, which was Microsoft’s flagship operating system until less than a year ago, and will continue to receive updates at least until October 2025. Any computer that can tolerably run Windows 8 should be able to do the same with Windows 10.
Microsoft officially ended its offer of free upgrade from Windows-8 to Windows-10 in 2016. But technically speaking, there is nothing to stop Windows 10 from being installed and activated normally on systems with valid licenses. Windows 8, either with a product key (for retail licenses) or automatically (for computers sold with Windows 8 preinstalled).
It’s an upgrade gap that Microsoft has kept open for years, a byproduct of the company’s desire by 2015 to unify the Windows installation base into a single version of the operating system. Windows 11, as we have written, takes a decidedly different approach. But at least for now, Microsoft still doesn’t seem interested in strictly enforcing licensing and activation rules for people upgrading to newer versions of Windows on their own systems.
Windows 8 failed at least in part because it attempted to graft a touch tablet interface to the Windows desktop, replacing or transforming familiar items such as the Start menu in the process. These detrimental changes to the interface distracted what was otherwise a good incremental upgrade from the popular Windows 7. Once it was replaced by the more familiar-looking Windows 10 in 2015, Windows 8’s market share was deteriorated rapidly thanks to a free upgrade offer that allowed all Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs to upgrade to Windows 10 at no additional cost.