Support for Windows 7 is set to end on January 14 and customers are being urged to upgrade.
Microsoft is offering enterprises custom updates to give them extra time to make the switch. It isn’t free though; Microsoft will charge the enterprise and, the longer it takes them to make the upgrade, the higher the fee will be each year.
And the Redmond Company announced a promotion recently, designed to do the same thing, allowing some customers to retain Windows 7, with updates, for a bit longer until they are ready to upgrade.
The promotion started on June 1, 2018, and is aimed at EA and EAS customers only, provided they have an active subscription to one or more of the following:
- Windows 10 Enterprise E5
- Microsoft 365 E5
- Microsoft 365 E5 Security
- Windows VDA E5
Anyone meeting that criteria will be provided with the ‘benefit’ of a further year’s Windows updates, as part of the promotion that is set to end on January 14, 2020. Consumers are not eligible as Microsoft will only ship those free upgrades to customers who purchase volume licensing.
“Grants to Windows 7 ESU 2020 will be valid starting on June 1, 2019. This is when promotion-eligible customers will start seeing Windows 7 ESU keys in VLSC. However, please notice that customers will not see entitlements to Windows 7 ESU in their License Summary in VLSC until the ESU coverage start date of January 14, 2020.”
For all other customers, Windows retires officially on January 14, 2020, and if you want to continue receiving Windows updates, you must upgrade to Windows 10.
The good news is you can still upgrade for free.
