Microsoft to Windows 7: Beat it, you bum
Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 12:36:00 -0800
Microsoft today figuratively told Window 7 – which ended support with a final security update – not to let the door hit it on the way out.
“Ten-year-old tech just can’t keep up,” Jared Spataro, an executive on the Microsoft 365 team, wrote in a post to a company blog. “As we end support for Windows 7, I encourage you to transition to these newer options right away.”
Not surprisingly, Spataro named those newer options as Windows 10 to replace Windows 7, and Office 365 to fill in for the retiring-in-October Office 2010. Combined, they make up the bulk of Microsoft 365, the business subscription plan Microsoft wants all customers to adopt.
“I see the end of support for Windows 7 and Office 2010 as an opportunity for you to transition to tools designed for the way we work today,” Spataro added. “If you haven’t already, make the move now.”
Spataro’s criticism of Windows 7 was nothing new; Microsoft has been dumping on the older OS for at least three years. “Windows 7 is based on long-outdated security architectures,” said Markus Nitschke, the head of Microsoft Germany, in January 2017. The operating system “does not meet the requirements of modern technology, nor the high security requirements of IT,” Nitschke warned as he touted the then-relatively new Windows 10.
Spataro mentioned Extended Security Updates (ESU), the for-a-fee post-retirement patches Microsoft will sell business customers in one-year increments for up to three years. But he dismissed ESU as nothing more than a “bandage” and again urged everyone to get on Windows 10 right away.
“In order to get the best protection and security features of Windows Defender Antivirus and the full potential of Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), I strongly urge you to migrate to Windows 10 as soon as possible,” he said.
It’s unlikely that this will be Microsoft’s final plea to dump Windows 7. In fact, starting tomorrow, Windows 7 PCs will begin displaying a full-page nag screen reminding users that they risk falling victim to cyber criminals by running unpatched software.