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Comment by CamelCaseName | Hacker News Reader

1. Windows 7 was supported with security updates for over 10 years (2009-2020). Second to only Windows XP (13 years)

2. They offered free upgrades to Windows 10 for a long time (a year?)

3. Replacement cycles for consumer desktops/laptops are short relative to OS cycles, with some internet stats saying ~5 years on average.

4. You can still run Windows 7, you just won't get security updates. You're free to repair it on your own... If you can.

5. Just because you buy an OS doesn't mean you buy lifetime support and updates.

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>You're free to repair it on your own... If you can.

You literally can't. It's proprietary software that you have a limited license to. This isn't like a deprecated Linux distro that you can always jump in and patch the security issues yourself.

Hell I'm sure if these tractors ran on free software, there'd be a business out there competing against the manufacturer by fixing old tractor software if it meant pulling in consulting fees from the farmers. But they can't, because we live in a world where you don't own software, you lease it.

As an aside the free upgrade still works. You can get it from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=616447. Just updated my grandma's computer two days ago from Windows 7.

It works, it activates, and Windows will say it's genuine if you ever reinstall windows from scratch on that machine but technically you don't have a valid license for Windows 10. It's a complete non-issue for personal use and Microsoft is blatantly still allowing the upgrade process and issuing digital entitlements, but for a business this would cause you to fail an audit and need to pay up to license Windows 10. Basically it's a free upgrade for home users but no different than pirating Windows for businesses.

>>> Windows 7 was supported with security updates for over 10 years (2009-2020). Second to only Windows XP (13 years)

So basically forever = 10 years as far as you are concerned? I have an elixir of immortality that you might be interested in.

Of course not, but 10 years is a lot better than Google's 3-5 for Chromebooks. Though consistent with their habit of nuking their own products, it seems like a foolish business move by Google--I too was burned by this and will never buy a Chromebook again.

How is your fourth point relevant in this discussion? Nobody is saying that devices are bricked as soon as they're unsupported, just that they become increasingly insecure without support and they contrast this with free and open OSes that keep working forever.

13 years of support may very well be above and beyond the norm in the software industry, but that doesn't make it "basically forever".

The free update to Windows 10 does though. And despite your GP's rhetorical flourish, it's hardly a "downgrade".

Well, it's definitely not an upgrade. There's no way to maintain privacy with Win10 by simply turning off telemetry once and calling it a day.

Sleazy bastards.

It absolutely fucking is. Ads infesting everything on my desktop. Pervasive tracking. Breaking updates pushed against my will. I'm happy that it doesn't bother you, but for me no f*cking thanks.

I've disabled the lock screen ads and most of the tracking stuff. It's possible it's still tracking me in some way that I'm not aware of, but as far as ads.. I don't recall Windows showing me ads for anything. Where are you getting ads?

Relative to software, it's basically forever. At some point you're still riding a horse and demanding that a highway be horse-accessible. It's unreasonable.

I don't think being better than the rest entitles you to abuse whatever superlative you wish. If the tallest man in the world claimed to be "basically as tall as Everest" I'd scoff at him too.

They will also still provide 7 updates for money to corporate users.

"They FORCED free upgrades to Windows 10 for a long time (a year?)"

Fixed that little lie for you. I still have two hard drives with Win10 still half-installed because I sure as fuck did not authorize Microsoft to change my computer, yet somehow they re-enabled automatic updates and forced that shit onto my systems..

4. seems wrong. It would be illegal to repair it on your own for copyright reasons.

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