SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
German authorities are waking up to a Windows 7 headache, with approximately €800,000 required in order to keep the elderly software supported a little longer.
Microsoft had long been warning users, both enterprises and individuals, that the end of support was nigh - 14 January - and made available various ways of keeping those updates flowing.
Alternatively there is always the option of a migration to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) with three years of free-ish support (because, y'know, you still have to pay for those Azure resources).
Finally, customers that had ponied up the cash for an E5 subscription could also be entitled to an extra year of Windows 7 security updates, through to 2021 (assuming the subscription stays active).
Blighty's very own NHS is an example of just such an organisation, having splashed the cash for some E5 goodness.
The position in which the German government now finds itself might raise a wry smile somewhere in Seattle.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @02:24PM (1 child)
Windows 7 isn't great but as we know Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare, that's why both users and corporations have been avoiding upgrading.
These kind of articles all seem to be about encouraging users to upgrade, when really they should just be steering them to a better OS than Microsoft is willing (or able) to provide.
Why would you give up all essence of privacy for Windows 10? If I had any interest in Windows and wasn't willing to change OS I would just get the extended support. The upgrade costs money too.
I really hope that articles like this will stop appearing only in the context of encouraging users to upgrade. Or at minimum to remind users of the privacy problems. If they want something to print, give them all the information. Don't steer them towards a decision.
My view, if you upgrade now to Windows 10 what you're saying is that this nightmare of privacy is acceptable. In other words, things will only get worse with the next edition of Windows because they will know 100% that you're willing to pay for this.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Friday January 24 2020, @04:13PM
But, as we also know, the only anti-privacy stuff that's actually hard to turn off/block in 10 is also present in 7, if you've applied updates.
So the choices are basically:
1) continue to run non-updated 7 without telemetry
2) pay for extra support, run 7 updated and figure out how to block the telemetry
3) upgrade to 10 and figure out how to block the telemetry
If you aren't bothered about running unpatched and unsupported, then do 1, otherwise the choice is between 2 & 3 looking at upgrade costs vs. support costs - privacy is a non-issue, situation is the same whether you pick 2 or 3.
There is also of course:
4) move off windows entirely
Trouble is that comes with its own cons and costs - hardware support, software support, etc., and still won't solve the privacy issue. Apple collects telemetry, Google collects telemetry, even some Linux distributions do so as well, and even when the OS itself doesn't do so that doesn't mean apps (e.g. Firefox) or even hardware drivers (e.g. Nvidia) don't.