Microsoft will end basic support for Windows 7 in six months

The American company Microsoft will end basic support for the Windows 7 operating system on January 13, 2015. After this date, until 2020, “extended support” is expected, which will be limited to installing security updates and paid patches.

In a post on its website, Microsoft clarifies that the end of basic support does not mean the end of automatic fixes, updates, or technical assistance. "Extended support will last for five years and will include no-cost security updates as well as paid patch support," Microsoft said in a statement.

The company also said that after January 13 next year, some of Microsoft's products will be included in extended support, including Windows Server 2008, Windows Phone 7.8, Windows Storage Server 2008, Exchange Server 2010 and Dynamics. Host Integration Server 2004, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004, Systems Management Server 2003, Visual FoxPro 9.0 and Windows CE 5.0 software packages will be removed from support.

Windows 7 went on sale in the fall of 2009, less than three years after the release of the previous operating system, Windows Vista.

The phasing out of support for earlier versions of Windows is in line with Microsoft's policy of requiring products to receive updates over a period of time, no less than 10 years. This happened with versions of Windows 95, 98 and 2000, notes RBC .

Recall that on April 8, Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP . Updates and maintenance are no longer available to computers running this operating system.