Recent Windows 7 Stories

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It’s been a long time coming, but Microsoft is officially retiring Internet Explorer 11 today.

A new survey of 10 million Windows devices shows that 1.44 percent of them are running Windows 11, fewer than the number running Windows XP, 7, or 8.

Windows 7 couldn’t have arrived at a better time for Microsoft: 2009 was a terrible year for the PC industry and a down year for Microsoft too.

In January 2010, I visited the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington and interviewed Mark Russinovich about Windows 7.

Microsoft revealed the Windows 7 desktop at PDC 2008, spent the next year delivering the product, and then celebrated the accomplishment at PDC 2009.

Of the few developer innovations delivered with Windows 7, the new Scenic Ribbon and Jump Lists are arguably the most interesting.

In December 2008, I wrote an editorial describing how Microsoft’s efforts to simplify Windows were making it harder to use. Sound familiar?

After the first public demonstration of Windows 7 at PDC 2008, Steven Sinofsky ceded the stage to Scott Guthrie for a tour of new developer features.

Most didn’t appreciate it at the time, but the 2008 Professional Developers Conference (PDC) was an inflection point for Microsoft.

In 2007 and 2008, Steven Sinofsky and this team prepared the follow-ups to Windows Vista: Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 7.

Microsoft revealed this week that it will no longer support OneDrive on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 starting on March 1, 2022.

Google announced last night that it will now support Chrome on Windows 7 through January 2022, an extension of 6 months.

Google announced today that its Flutter app development toolkit can now be used to create native Windows applications.

Windows 10 users aren’t the only ones getting Microsoft Edge from Windows Update: Now it’s heading out to Windows 7 and 8.1 as well.

Microsoft revealed this week that it will stop supporting its new Edge browser in Windows 7 on July 15, 2021, in keeping with the Google Chrome support schedule.

Today, Microsoft announced the immediate availability of PowerShell 7, the latest version of its cross-platform automation tool.

The FSF is petitioning Microsoft to open-source Windows 7. Yeah, it sounds like a crazy idea. Until you really think about it.

With the end of Windows 7 support last week, I’ve returned somewhat begrudgingly to Windows 10. And you know what? It ain’t all bad.

Those who stick with Windows 7 may not face any immediate security issues. But you need to worry about the long-term.

Microsoft delivered the final set of updates to Windows 7 users today and will begin displaying a full-screen warning.

OK, it was modest, but PC sales still grew in 2019. Here’s a look at what happened and at how things will change in the future.

Microsoft confirmed today that it will support Edge on Windows 7 for the same 18 month+ timeframe as will Google with Chrome.

With Windows 7’s support end-of-life just days away, I find myself thinking about Windows 10, not Windows 7.

With Windows 7 still in use by 500 million people, Google has pledged to support Chrome on that platform past its support EOL.

This series isn’t about installing and configuring Windows 7 here in 2020. It’s about using it, as 500 million other people are doing.

I finally got Windows 7 successfully installed on my old NUC, so I’m able to move to this aging OS fulltime now. I think.

With several hundred Windows Updates finally complete, my nostalgic trip back in time with Windows 7 can continue. Up next: Applications.