Attention, Windows 8 users: if you have postponed installing Windows 8.1 all this time, you should know that the resistance ends here. Yesterday, Microsoft officially ended support for the original builds of Windows 8, as well as several versions of Internet Explorer. Anyone who wants to keep receiving security updates needs to make the jump to Windows 8.1, which at this point we can consider a Service Pack...
Delaying an update or the installation of patches is something fundamental in many environments. For example, the last thing a company needs is to see its terminals knocked out of action by a regression in a hotfix, or stuck in a loop during reboot. Right now, Windows Update shows me about 100 megabytes of patches waiting for the install order, but something tells me I should research each entry before allowing it (just in case they reactivate the Windows 10 offer). I imagine users of Windows 8 have also received updates similar, but with one detail: they will be the last for that version of the operating system.
Official support ends
As Microsoft anticipated on one of its pages, support for the original versions of Windows 8 concluded yesterday. This closure covers all editions, including N variants, Enterprise, and a combination of both. Thinking back, Windows 8 debuted in October 2012, while Windows 8.1 appeared a year later. Microsoft's policy established a 24-month deadline for Windows 8 users to adopt Windows 8.1. Mainstream support for Windows 8.1 will end on January 9, 2018, and extended support five years later. Of course, users can always ignore these details and stay on Windows 8, but the absence of support must be handled with great care.
Internet Explorer: only the latest compatible version
At the same time, the end of support extends to versions 7, 8, 9, and 10 of Internet Explorer, depending on the operating system. Microsoft's decision here is to provide patches to the most modern browser that each version of Windows can receive. In the case of Windows Vista, future hotfixes will only be focused on Internet Explorer 9, and on Windows 7 / 8.1, it will be Internet Explorer 11. Of course, this does not mean the definitive abandonment of old versions. Redmond still has to support embedded operating systems based on XP, so Internet Explorer 8 will receive hotfixes on those platforms until the corresponding cycle ends.
