With Windows 10 on mind, Microsoft has cut retail sales for Windows 7 and Windows 8 with effect from 31 October. The consumers will now be able to only purchase Windows 8.1 through retail outlets and Windows 7 Professional through online download from Microsoft’s website.
The end of retail sales means the retailers won’t be able to sell new copies of the products but continue to clear off old stock and sell PCs and laptops that already have Windows 8.1 installed on them.
The end of retail sale of PCs with pre-installed Windows 8.1 has not been decided and the support phase for the same will continue till January 2018.
Windows 8 was released in October 2012 but did not attract a lot of users due to a lot of changes from the previous generation Windows, but with the release of Windows 8.1 last year Microsoft managed to gain some of the lost ground and together both the versions have raked in 16.8 per cent of market share, second only to now defunct Windows XP (17.2 per cent).
Announced in late September this year, Windows 10 will be the new Microsoft OS that will have the classic Start Menu button back but with new look and feel.
The Technical Preview for Windows 10 is available for official download and was unveiled last month.