London cops miss own deadline to upgrade PCs from aged Windows XP

Further plans are being developed to address the remaining XP desktops including reducing the overall number used by the organisation, replacing with laptops, tablets, and disposing of equipment that can not support Windows 8.1 and beyond.

Check the Microsoft lifecycle support policy FAQ for more information. According to Microsoft, the change has been made possible by the PC OEMs and by Intel, which will themselves be performing security update validation testing and upgrade testing through the end of the support dates.

Microsoft is now cutting through the confusion surrounding Skylake support, and is declaring that ALL Skylake machines running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be FULLY supported until the extended support period ends for each operating system.

Microsoft previously stated that it would not be supporting devices running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 past 2018.

Windows XP, introduced in 2001, is now so out of data that it does not even receive official security updates anymore. “Once completed it will be more straightforward to make the next upgrade to Windows 10 as they share a common kernel – we are starting to work with Microsoft on the upgrade to Windows 10”. Skylake devices not on the exempt list would get nothing.

Today’s announcement invalidated the entire proposal from January, with Microsoft essentially saying “Never mind”. “Upgrading our legacy systems to Windows 8.1 was the only approach recommended by Microsoft, as there was no direct upgrade path to Windows 10”, Dijeh says.

That support will end on January 14, 2020, and support for Windows 8.1 will end January 10, 2023. “6th Gen Intel Core devices [that’s Skylake] on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be supported with all applicable security updates until the end of support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1″, Larsen said [emphasis added].

Microsoft obliquely acknowledged that the retreat had been prompted by customers. It’s all but certain that the Metropolitan Police have a nice, pricey custom support plan in place that pays Microsoft several hundred dollars per machine to keep those systems on life support just a little bit longer.

But some computer makers – OEMs, or “original equipment manufacturers” – had also criticized the shortening of support. In March, for example, Lenovo implied that it disagreed with Microsoft, likely concerned about losing sales if customers were uncertain whether they could complete migrations from Windows 7 to Windows 10 by the initial 2017 deadline.