End Of Windows 7: Open Road For Hackers!
Microsoft has been urging customers to upgrade from its Windows 7 operating system, while attempting to ease the transition with several options for extended support. It will stop providing routine fixes and security patches effective January 2020. Regular support for Windows Server 2008 also is scheduled to end at that time.
Windows 7 enterprise customers can subscribe to Extended Security Updates (ESU) to receive security fixes for uncovered or reported vulnerabilities in the OS. However, patches will be issued only in cases of threats rated "Critical" or "Important" by Microsoft.
Those are the two top rankings in Microsoft's four-step scoring system, meaning that performance issues might not be addressed. Moreover, ESU will be available only in one-year increments, and for just three years. It will be sold on a per-device basis instead of the per-user basis that Microsoft has offered for Windows 10. ESU will be available for US$25 to $50 per year per device, but the cost will double each year, so that by 2022, support for the aging Windows 7 OS will cost $100 or $200 per device. Customers who subscribe to Microsoft 365 Enterprise will be offered the lower-tier pricing.
Computers running Windows 7 account for 37.9 of PCs today, while Windows 10 accounts for 40.9 market share, according to data from Netmaketshare. On the business side of the market, Windows 10 accounts for more than 50 percent of the market. Windows 7 was released in 2009 as a replacement for the unpopular Windows Vista, as well as 2001's Windows XP. Microsoft also plans to end support for Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server applications early next year, and the company has been encouraging clients to migrate to Azure.
Unlike with Windows 7, no ESU is planned, leaving customers with limited options.
The end of Windows Server 2008 support is why nearly one-third of companies surveyed said that they were considering purchasing new server hardware, according to the recent Spiceworks 2019 State of Servers report. "Windows 2008 Server is the most widely used server on the planet," said Zohar Pinhasi, CEO of MonsterCloud, provider of managed cybersecurity services. As a result, it could make a tempting target to hackers once support ends. "A lot of organizations moved to Server 2012, but migration isn't an easy task, and too often companies take the approach 'if it ain't broken don't fix it,'" he told TechNewsWorld.
"Criminals are already aware that Microsoft will discontinue the support for the OS next year, and our research suggests they could be cooking up something big -- like taking advantage of zero-day vulnerabilities," Pinhasi added. Windows 7 was released as a follow-up to the underwhelming Windows Vista. It received a warm reception, widely seen as offering the best features and functionality of Windows XP and Vista. In 2012, however -- just three years after the release of Windows 7 -- Microsoft took the OS in a completely new direction with Windows 8, which offered what the company dubbed a "Modern User Interface" with touchscreen options.
The new interface, which also was meant to bridge tablets and PCs, failed to catch on. Microsoft then released Windows 10 in 2015. Whereas Windows 7 combined the best aspects of XP and Vista, Windows 10 offered the best of Windows 7 and 8/8.1. Yet, perhaps because Windows 10 resembles Windows 7 so closely, users have been slow to adopt it. Nearly four years later, 10 has only just surpassed 7 in total users. Microsoft has had to support three operating systems, so it is no surprise that the company decided to pull the plug on the oldest.
"Windows 7 was introduced 10 years ago in 2009 -- that is 70 dog years or Internet years -- a human lifespan," said Paul Teich, principal analyst atLiftrCloud. "It had to happen sometime; Microsoft has extended Windows 7's life a number of times," noted Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.