Windows maker Microsoft has ended the sales of Windows 7 and Windows 8. They won’t be making any appearance on new OEM hardware. The only operating system in the market from Microsoft now will be Windows 10.
Windows 7 has been shipping with OEM desktops and laptops from 2009, that’s almost 7 years whereas Windows 8 has been selling for just over four years. Microsoft wants to put Windows 10 as its only hero. Windows 7 was a pretty popular operating system after Windows XP. After Vista’s debacle with new design elements and few odd changes, Windows 7 made a perfect comeback. It was a true successor to Windows XP with a refreshed look but not drastic.
Even after the release of Windows 7, XP ruled for a very long time. People were hesitant to upgrade at the beginning but finally saw the advantages – speedier and refreshing. After that came Windows 8, a true disappointment from Microsoft. It tried to combine tablet OS and desktop OS, basically touch and pointer styled operating system, which failed very badly. It received very negative reviews from the critics and consumers who had updated to Windows 8 were looking for ways to go downgrade to Windows 7 or Windows XP.
Well Microsoft still thinks that tablets and desktops should be combined but it’s trying to keep it minimal. Windows 10 was built on these ideals, it brought back the iconic Start Menu and a lot of functions which had been scraped with Windows 8 in favour of Metro style.
According to me, Windows 10 is still clunky, it has two settings for everything and two ways to do many things. It would be better if Microsoft built a new operating system with a new base, I know it’s a lot and it would mean having backward compatibility to run all the apps created for Windows till now.
Windows 10 is now the only torch-bearer. Only time will tell where the desktop operating system by Microsoft is heading.