Last week Microsoft updated their support roadmap to detail the products which will hit 'Extended Support' and 'End of Support' status in the coming months. Among the software mentioned are various editions of Visual Studio 2012 (which moves to End Of Support status), Office 2010 Service Pack 1 (also moving to End of Support), and most notably for general consumers all versions of Windows 7.
As outlined, Windows 7 editions - from Starter through to Enterprise - will transition into the 'Extended Support' phase from January 13th 2015, marking the point at which requests for additional features will no longer be entertained and only security patches and bug fixes will be issued. This is not quite the hard curtailing of support Windows XP faced this April, but does represent the gradual death of Windows 7 development.
Extended Support lasts for 5 years and includes security updates at no cost, and paid hotfix support. Additionally, Microsoft will not accept requests for design changes or new features during the Extended Support phase.
Windows 7 itself remains the largest OS by market share with a dominant >50%, easily outstripping the more recent Windows 8/8.1. Despite this there is no indication that the transition is ahead of schedule.
For enthusiasts and gamers however there is one key feature which is now all the more unlikely to appear in Windows 7 - DirectX 12. The much heralded next update to the graphics API, intended to reduce CPU workload much like AMD's Mantle - is not due till well into 2015 and may be a feature deliberately held over for Windows 9/Threshold or at best Windows 8.1.
Thankfully early reports on Windows 9 show a UI which is far more suited to a desktop environment than 8/8.1, and these improvements along with halting development on Windows 7 may be the only way to encourage normally frugal gamers to move on from their currently highly-reliable OS of choice.
Source: Microsoft Support
