A little while ago, Microsoft warned consumers that certain version of Windows would be ending for good. For some reason, various consumers are still holding onto XP, Vista, and Windows 7. Well, if you are still running any of these operating systems, you might want to know that you will no longer be able to get support for any of these systems in the very near future.

The End Is Near: Here Are the Important Dates

If you are currently running Windows Vista, your end date is April 11, 2017; Windows XP is April 8, 2014; and the Windows 7 end date is January 14th, 2020. Right now, you can’t purchase a copy of any of these operating systems, but you will be able to obtain Microsoft help with these systems until those end dates have drawn near. Once the aforementioned dates pass, you will be on your own when it comes to figuring out Windows problems.

While it might seem like Microsoft is abandoning people who still use XP, 7, or Vista, the truth of the matter is that these operating systems are very much out of date, and there are much better operating systems available now. Then again, it’s understandable if you have an older machine that has been running fine on an older OS. If this is the case, you can keep plugging away on your old OS until problems arise. If you want to try and fix any upcoming problems on your own, I suggest picking up a copy of an older user manual, so that you can fix any issue you might have without resorting to phoning Microsoft (which won’t be a possibility, of course).

Will Microsoft Bring Those Old Systems Back?

If you are happy with an older version of Windows, you might be wondering if Microsoft will bring back support for one of those versions at some point. The truth of the matter is that this scenario is highly unlikely. Even if the current version of Windows doesn’t turn out to be popular or work well, Microsoft isn’t likely to backtrack. In fact, few companies will go back in order to move forward. Instead, a newer, more popular, version of Windows is bound to pop up.

Right now, Microsoft is working to create an even better OS, so why not give the newest version a shot? Of course, you will have to learn a new OS, but Microsoft is pretty good at creating user friendly systems, so this transition shouldn’t be a difficult one.

If you want to keep using your older version of Windows, there’s nothing stopping you. But, why suffer along with the glitches presented by an older version when you can move forward? If Windows isn’t doing it for you with the newest version, consider switching to Linux or buying an Apple computer. No matter what you decide to do, just remember that the version of Windows mentioned above (XP, Vista, and 7) will no longer be around after the dates listed above – at that point, you’ll be on your own.