Has anyone seen this?

[AWS]

It looks like Windows 7 will no longer be free. Microsoft is going to start charging Windows 7 users a monthly fee beginning in 2020.

Microsoft 'Confirms' Windows 7 New Monthly Charge

We all knew Windows 10 was eventually going the subscription route. Never seen it coming that we would hit Windows 7 users with the monthly fees too.

 

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

I was just getting ready to post that, from Forbes.
I think it's ridiculous!
I have one desktop and one laptop running Windows 10 and one desktop running Win 8.1.
One desktop still has Win 7 on it.

 

[Rustys]

What is going to stop people from downloading them directly from the Microsoft site?

 

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

After January 2020, Microsoft is only going to make security patches and updates available to those pay for the subscription to Windows 7.

 

[Rustys]

If I do not use the windows update then are they going to make is where I have to log in to the Microsoft to manually down load them?

I meant through the Microsoft Web site.

 

[plodr]

Are you sure that this fee is not for businesses with volume license keys and those people running Windows 7 Enterprise?
They are the only ones who can get patches for Windows 7 through 2023.
I suspect it doesn't apply to home users who can't pay to get patched after 2020.

If I'm not mistaken, something like this was done under XP for businesses who were slow to move to Windows 7.

 

[AWS]

According to the article it applies to everyone. When support end in 2020 you have to pay a fee for extended support and patches.

I beleive Microsoft wants to avoid what heppened with XP. People didn't want to upgrade and support kept getting extended. This is a move to get people off Windows 7.

 

[plodr]

No, that Forbes article is missing an important piece of the puzzle.
Microsoft plans to sell post-2020 support for Windows 7

Windows 7 ESU, said Spataro, will be available only for PCs running Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Enterprise, and then only if those operating systems were obtained via a volume licensing deal.

The Spataro quoted above is Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Office and Windows Marketing. And here is what he posted on September 6th.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic.../helping-customers-shift-to-a-modern-desktop/

we will offer paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023. The Windows 7 ESU will be sold on a per-device basis and the price will increase each year. Windows 7 ESUs will be available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing,

Home users won't be able to pay for extended support.

 

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

That is a key piece of information missing from the Forbes article.
Good find, Liz!

 

[plodr]

I'm trying to reduce FUD on the internet. Now lots of sites will repost the Forbes article and home users will think that their Windows 7 computers will stop working on January 14 2020 unless they pay MS. (Has this happened with XP? No, there are still XP computers working even though support ended over 4 years ago).