Every product has a shelf-life, which is a measure of how long it’s expected to work for. In the IT world, when a product reaches the end of its shelf-life, it’s referred to having reached End Of Support, or EOS.
Naturally, commercial computer operating systems also have an EOS date; this is the point at which their creators stop developing fixes, updates, patches, and new features for them altogether.
In the case of Windows, Microsoft offers paid support for the various Windows versions once the free support they offer ends, but even paid support comes to an end at the EOS date.
Both Windows Server 2008/2008 SR2 and Windows 7 will reach EOS on the 14th of January, 2020.
No support at all. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
From then, Microsoft won’t develop anything for those OSes. No patches, no security updates, nothing. That means if a new cyberthreat emerges that specifically targets either OS, there’s nothing you can do to stop those systems from being compromised short of coding a fix yourself.
This is not ideal for any business. The solution is to upgrade systems running those OSes to modern versions of Windows. In the case of old Windows 7 machines, that means a move to Windows 10, and in the case of servers running Windows Server 2008 and 2008 SR2, to Windows Server 2019.
Newer is better
Not only will you get the benefit of ongoing security patches and support, you’ll get new features, faster performance, and very close cloud integration thanks to the features of those newer operating systems.
So in short, sticking with OSes that have reached their End of Support date creates a massive hole in your cyber defences. Ensuring that doesn’t happen requires that you update those older systems to modern versions of Windows.
We can help
Tarsus Distribution can help with this; come to us with your licensing requirements and we’ll help you plan out what you need. We can even offer our own internal expertise to help you through the upgrade process.
And if you’re worried about legacy apps not working on a newer OS, don’t – Windows 10 is able to run 99% of all Windows 7 software with no hassles.
Talk to us today about keeping your organisation safe. You’re welcome to call us on 011 531 1000, you can speak to your account manager, or you can send us a message using this form and we’ll do our best to guide you through the upgrade process.
