Windows 8 Windows 8 support time line

[ussnorway]

To clear up something here, windows 8 is a valid operating system in its own right but you can… and yes MOST people should go to the free 8.1 upgrade. Now what happens if (for whatever reason) you don’t want to upgrade to 8.1?

Retail support for windows 8 ends at the end of this month… that is to say people that purchase a NEW computer from a retail outlet of some kind after this date can reasonably expect that it will not come prepackaged with windows 8 installed. You will still be able to ask for 8 for some time after this date and there will no doubt be all kind of specials around.

Windows 8 main support goes until January 9, 2018 and at that point you can upgrade to 8.1 within 24 months for an extra 5 years extended support or lose support.

Read about it here; Link Removed

 

[Jimbo22]

It's all a bit confusing to me anyway....thanks for the heads up and link.

 

[junkydude]

It seems to me that offering support for 8.0 is pretty generous, considering I don't see any reason not to upgrade to 8.1

 

[ussnorway]

The fact of the matter is Microsoft pushed the release of 8.1 forward as a way to appease angry customers… Windows 8 was a massive pr disaster because of the “start button” removal but it also is a very stable and FAST system--- regardless, it was officially launched and Microsoft was already (legally) committed to supporting it. They can’t turn around and say sorry but we don’t want to keep it --- I agree most people will find the extras in 8.1 suits them better.

Side topic;

The so called 8.1.1 patch is what causes most of this confusion… after upgrading to the (optional) 8.1 the customer has a limited time to install this patch or their machine can no longer have updates from the Microsoft server.

To be clear, the 8.1.1 patch has vendor drivers and for the most part is worth installing.