If there is still any loyal user holding onto their original Windows Vista license, they need to know that the end is very near for that operating system. Its extended support phase will end on April 11, after which it will no longer receive updates. Often identified as one of the biggest mistakes in the history of Microsoft, Windows Vista holds an average of 1 percent of the market, so its departure will be much less traumatic when compared to that of XP.
A History of Problems
Windows Vista debuted on January 30, 2007, and it didn't take long to see that the whole project was heading for a cliff. Horrible performance on available hardware, lack of support and drivers among manufacturers, the chaos of "Vista Capable - Vista Ready", the paranoia of User Account Control, the absurd exclusivity of DirectX 10 (which, by the way, added nothing), Microsoft's systematic denial, the inevitable "downgrade" program to XP, the Mojave experiment, its cost... a dark era, without a doubt.
The Good News and the Future
The good news is that Windows 7 helped us leave that behind (even though Microsoft keeps trying to cut its throat at every moment), though there is something even better on the way: the end of extended support. Windows Vista will definitively step off the stage on April 11. Mainstream support had ended in April 2012, but now it's time to tie up the last loose ends. Several software developers got ahead of this, cutting off their activity on that operating system. One of the most prominent examples is Google Chrome, which gave Vista the thumbs down in April last year, releasing version 49 as the last compatible one.
With a market share hovering around 1 percent, the best option for Windows Vista users is to (at the very least) make the jump to Windows 7, or to cauterize the operating system as best they can and keep using it until the computer turns to dust. Once on Windows 7, there's the possibility to access a free copy of Windows 10, but that's another kind of commitment.
