Windows 11

[ikonix360]

Also means programs stop supporting it eventually.

 

[PP Mguire]

Not true for most. Chrome supported Windows Vista 10 years after release and XP 15 years. Supported Windows 7 until this year and the older version is still downloadable. Windows 10 is 9 years old today and is the minimum supported. Most programs support an OS long enough to hardware obsolescence. After the fact it's very popular to make forks for retro OS, so for instance MyPal was made to have a newer Firefox on Windows XP. Just one example of browsers. More niche products sure, but it's not because Windows isn't supported it's because they themselves drop support for a particular OS. In that case if the software isn't upgradeable and an alternative isn't the option you stick to the older OS and software.

 

[ikonix360]

Didn't realize some supported for so long.

 

[PP Mguire]

It's because app devs understand people don't just drop an OS because Microsoft put an arbitrary date on it.

 

[ikonix360]

I'm so used to apps like Chrome Firefox ETC... dropping support fairly quickly far as software upgrades go. At least it deemed like they did or maybe I just expected them to support it longer than they did given the PC still worked reasonably well.

 

[PP Mguire]

I'm so used to apps like Chrome Firefox ETC... dropping support fairly quickly far as software upgrades go. At least it deemed like they did or maybe I just expected them to support it longer than they did given the PC still worked reasonably well.

I would say 10+ years for certain OS is quite a long time. Mind you, things like browsers also have to take security into account.

A browser relies on several layers of security to protect the user. An OS like XP got dumped because it didn't support newer features like TLS 1.2+ and cert repositories. While also starting to become riddled with holes due to lack of kernel and OS updates. Things like HTML5 and other modern features also aren't supported to a certain extent due to back end things being missing from OS, drivers, and hardware running these OS. This is also why they started to drop Vista and 7 eventually.
Other things like Office could be updated continuously as a standalone but Microsoft wants you to upgrade your Office version as well as your OS so they put arbitrary limits on them. Because money.

Then you have other forms of software that don't really need to be up to date on exploit protection because they either don't rely on internet connectivity or user security. These apps only require older OS because they simply won't run correctly or even install on modern OS. A good example would be productivity software like video editors, DAWs, games, etc. They only dropped support for because the app devs work on the current versions of their software rather than trying to keep old things up to date.

 

[Joe C]

Firefox still runs on a Windows 7 pc but I'm not sure on the expiration date

 

[ikonix360]

Cool

 

[Tornados]

The browser example is perfect – it needs to stay updated with the latest security protocols and features to keep users safe while browsing. And you're right. Once certain OS versions can't support these updates, it's a risky game to keep using them.

 

[Tornados]

The browser example is perfect – it needs to stay updated with the latest security protocols and features to keep users safe while browsing. And you're right. Once certain OS versions can't support these updates, it's a risky game to keep using them.

And you're absolutely correct about certain software not needing constant updates for security because they're not internet-dependent or user security-sensitive. Those productivity apps, games, and specialized software can keep chugging along on older OS versions. If you ever decide to dive into Windows 11, having a reliable Windows 11 key is a must. I recently got one from digitalchillmart[dot]com, and it worked like a charm.