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Microsoft has backpedaled on its plan to force users of certain PCs to hastily update to Windows 10.
The Redmond-based tech giant initially stated in January 2015 that PCs running 6th-generation Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs and windows 7 would only get limited security and stability support until mid-2017.
In March it reduced the severity of that plan, extending support until mid-2018 and promising critical patches would flow until end of life.
Microsoft now has fully gone back on that initial plan by offering full support until the operating systems’ end of life – January 14 2020 for Windows 7 and January 10 2023 for Windows 8.1.
The company explained this move by stating: "We recognize that, in some instances, customers have a few systems that require longer deployment timeframes.”
The policy, which Microsoft says would mostly impact "our commercial customers who are currently managing deployments with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1", has been changed after many of those business users opposed it. Users operating PCs listed by the company on its support site, will be able to securey run them until the afforementioned end of life dates.
After many attempts to force users to Windows 10 – such as sneaking upgrade reminders into security updates and ignoring UI design conventions in pop-ups – this is the latest move to backfire.
The company in the same release also boasts the operating system’s installation base on 350 million machines but had previously admitted to The Register that it would fail to hit its target of having Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2018.
