[NFBCS] Windows 7 Support Has Ended As Of January 14, 2020

Michael McQuaid mickmcquaid at gmail.com
Wed Feb 19 01:16:59 UTC 2020 

It is relatively easy for the government to force a company to continue
support for products for a certain period of time, by enforcing escrow
accounts and spare parts supplies. I am pretty sure that this is an
important cost center for many industries in many countries.

I don't think it is fair to compare Windows to iOS or Android because it is
not possible to buy iOS or Android. People are forced to buy Windows in the
sense that Microsoft charges the OEMs on a per-CPU basis. This is to the
detriment of Linux, by the way, since every machine on which you run Linux
(with a very small number of exceptions) has had a payment extracted by
Microsoft for Windows.

You are technically correct that iOS 12 doesn't get updates once iOS 13 is
released but Apple does make iOS 13 available as a free upgrade for many
discontinued products and will continue to do so for years. One reason I
have switched to iOS from Android is that I perceive the support situation
for the device to be better (on a longer time horizon).

- Mick

On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 8:02 PM Christopher Chaltain <chaltain at gmail.com>
wrote:

> An model of the iPhone will be supported for four or five years, but IOS
> 12 won't be supported once IOS 13 is released. Similarly, PC's that came
> with Windows Seven may be able to run with Windows 10, so just as with the
> iPhone, the platform is still supported, but you can't stick with a
> particular version of IOS, at least not if you want support from Apple.
>
>
> I suppose you're right in that a lot of people have to use Microsoft
> products, but if you get an Iphone, you have to use IOS and Apple products.
> Ditto for an Android phone and Google. You could run Linux on your PC and
> not Windows, which is what I do.
>
>
> I don't see how a company could be forced to support a product once
> they've gone out of business. My point is that if you force a company to
> support a version of an operating system forever then costs will go up as
> they support an older operating system and revenue will drop forcing them
> to go out of business, at which point you'll lose support.
>
>
>
> On 2/18/20 6:48 PM, Michael McQuaid wrote:
>
> Gee, I don't think what you are saying is correct. Do you have evidence to
> back this up? My impression is that iOS devices are supported much longer
> than their Android counterparts.
>
> It doesn't seem fair to compare Microsoft's holding us hostage to other
> companies because other companies don't have the monopoly. For most people,
> there is not a choice about using Microsoft products.
>
> I am similarly unsure about support being limited to the lifespan of the
> company. I have the impression that in some industries, companies must
> support products for a certain number of years regardless of whether they
> stay in business. If not for laws regulating them, I suspect you would see
> more small companies form around one-off products and going out of business
> quickly to avoid support issues.
>
> - Mick
>
> On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 7:38 PM Christopher Chaltain via NFBCS <
> nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> I suppose this is true, but any given version of IOS is only supported
>> until the next version comes out. Android gets three years of support.
>> Ubuntu gets five for it's LTS releases. Microsoft supported Windows
>> Seven for 10 years. I suppose you can say any company making an
>> operating system and not supporting a version forever is holding us
>> hostage, but any proprietary operating system will only be supported as
>> long as the company is around anyway.
>>
>>
>> On 2/18/20 10:55 AM, Kevin via NFBCS wrote:
>> > This is yet another example of Microsoft holding the user hostage.  We
>> > have little recourse.
>> >
>> >
>> > On 2/18/2020 12:34 AM, Nicole Torcolini wrote:
>> >>     Thanks for the information, but my Windows 7 ain't going
>> >> anywhere. If Microsoft wants us to use Windows 10, then maybe they
>> >> should consider how some of the major changes impact blind users.
>> >>
>> >> -----Original Message-----
>> >> From: NFBCS [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kevin via
>> >> NFBCS
>> >> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2020 2:05 PM
>> >> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> >> Cc: Kevin
>> >> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Windows 7 Support Has Ended As Of January 14, 2020
>> >>
>> >> This was a good thing to read but I admit a hard pill to swallow.  I
>> >> guess I'll need to get my rear in gear.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On 2/17/2020 4:57 PM, Curtis Chong via NFBCS wrote:
>> >>> Windows 7
>> >>> Support Ended After January 14, 2020
>> >>>
>> >>> By Curtis Chong
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Windows 7 has been around for about a decade, and for people who are
>> >>> not in
>> >>> the habit of regularly buying new computers, this operating system has
>> >>> served them well. For many blind computer users, Windows 7 became
>> >>> the gold
>> >>> standard of operating systems.  Because of the stability of this
>> >>> operating
>> >>> system, some folks allowed their service maintenance agreements for
>> >>> JAWS
>> >>> and/or ZoomText to expire, figuring that everything was working fine
>> >>> and
>> >>> hence not in need of any updates. Many of us have read the Microsoft
>> >>> announcement declaring that support for Windows 7 ended as of
>> >>> January 14
>> >>> <
>> https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4057281/windows-7-support-ended-on
>> >>>
>> >>> -january-14-2020> , 2020. What does this mean for Windows 7 users?
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> First, while computers running Windows 7 will continue to work,
>> >>> Microsoft is
>> >>> no longer sending out any security or other updates. Using a good
>> >>> antivirus
>> >>> program (I'm not talking about the free ones) can reduce your
>> >>> computer's
>> >>> vulnerability to security threats, but if your system is actually
>> >>> compromised, I can guarantee that you will eventually not be able to
>> >>> get any
>> >>> help at all to recover from the attack.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Secondly, Microsoft customer service is no longer available for
>> >>> Windows 7
>> >>> technical support. This means that you will not be able to get any
>> >>> telephone
>> >>> help at all from Microsoft for Windows 7-not even from the Microsoft
>> >>> Disability Answer Desk.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Finally, technical support for screen reading and magnification
>> >>> software
>> >>> will become less and less available as technical support personnel
>> >>> necessarily focus most of their attention on current versions of
>> >>> programs
>> >>> like JAWS and/or ZoomText. There will come a time when Freedom
>> >>> Scientific,
>> >>> the company which sells these two programs, will announce that the
>> next
>> >>> version of JAWS and/or ZoomText will no longer work with Windows 7.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> What should a Windows 7 user do? Here are my suggestions.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> 1.         Buy a new computer.
>> >>>
>> >>> While it is certainly possible in some cases to upgrade your existing
>> >>> computer to Windows 10, experience has shown that upgrading an
>> existing
>> >>> Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 creates enough problems that the
>> >>> upgrade is
>> >>> hardly worth the effort. A brand new computer with a clean
>> >>> installation of
>> >>> Windows 10 will give you a much cleaner (and more stable) operating
>> >>> system.
>> >>> For around $500, you can get a respectable laptop computer with a
>> >>> decent-sized keyboard and a good amount of memory and disk storage.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> 2.         Update your screen reading or screen enlargement program.
>> >>>
>> >>> It is essential that your screen reading or enlargement software is
>> >>> current.
>> >>> Windows 10 has been around for a few years now, but it is
>> >>> continually being
>> >>> updated-with a major update coming about once every six months. Screen
>> >>> reading and enlargement software has to be kept up to date to deal
>> >>> with the
>> >>> sometimes significant changes which Microsoft continues to introduce
>> >>> every
>> >>> time a major update is released. If you have allowed your service
>> >>> maintenance agreement to lapse, you are likely going to have to pay
>> >>> a few
>> >>> hundred dollars to bring your access technology up to date.
>> >>> Fortunately, for
>> >>> users of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, Freedom Scientific now offers
>> home
>> >>> annual licenses
>> >>> <https://store.freedomscientific.com/collections/software-for-home> .
>> >>> Instead of paying, say, $300 to bring your software up to date, you
>> >>> can pay
>> >>> an annual fee of $90 (for JAWS), $80 (for ZoomText) or $160 (for
>> >>> Fusion,
>> >>> which includes both JAWS and ZoomText) by acquiring the appropriate
>> >>> home
>> >>> annual license from the Freedom Scientific eStore, located at
>> >>> https://store.freedomscientific.com.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> The good news for long-time users of Windows 7 is that Windows 10
>> >>> continues
>> >>> to offer the same keyboard commands and Windows Desktop which Windows
>> 7
>> >>> users know. In other words, once you move to Windows 10, you will
>> >>> hardly
>> >>> notice the difference between what is happening on your new system
>> >>> and what
>> >>> used to happen on your old equipment-with the possible exception that
>> >>> everything will seem to run a lot more quickly.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>
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>> >>
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> --
>> Christopher (CJ)
>> Chaltain at Gmail
>>
>>
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> --
> Christopher (CJ)
> Chaltain at Gmail
>
>

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