This year 31 October frights are not limited to Halloween.
Today is also the day Microsoft stops selling retail copies of
both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
The date is written large in the Windows Life Cycle Fact Sheet
but, like the best Halloween scares, the real threat is not as big
as the initial shock.
This is how it breaks down:
From 31 October there will be no more sales to consumers of
Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate. There will
also be no more sales of Windows 8 retail box copies.
There will be retail box sales of Windows 8.1 (Microsoft draws
a hard line between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1) and
businesses and consumers will still be able to buy Windows 8
Professional licences through ‘ Downgrade Rights’, but it will
come at additional cost and have limited availability.
Windows 10 brings high hopes of fusing the best of
Windows 7 and Windows 8
For those keen to act fast there will be a stock pile of licences
for Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate
floating around major OEMs (original equipment
manufacturers) like Dell and HP. That said, given OEMs will not
be receiving more licences from Microsoft after today, it is a
ticking clock.
A note of warning: a big market for Windows 7 licenses is likely
to sprout up online, particularly on auction sites, but be careful.
Microsoft’s EULA (end user license agreement) makes selling
on second hand copies null and void.

What stands out on Microsoft’s life cycle page is how quickly
the company is looking to bury Windows 8. Windows 7 sales
have continued for two years after Windows 8′s release and
Windows 7 Professional continues to avoid the axe.
By contrast Microsoft is killing Windows 8 just two years and
two months after launch and spending a great deal of time
stressing Windows 8.1 is not Windows 8, despite the obvious
fact that Windows 8 will upgrade to 8.1. This shows Microsoft’s
determination to distance itself from the original form of
Windows 8 and it is true that Windows 8.1 makes significant
improvements to the user experience and is more intuitive to
users coming from other versions of Windows.
Moreover this shows Microsoft is clearing house for Windows
10: the Windows 7/Windows 8 hybrid upon which it is hanging
the future of the company. Windows 10 will run across mobile,
tablet and PC and is being meticulously tested with a free
Technical Preview ( install guide and privacy warnings) to make
sure it arrives to market in 2015 as something users love.
With Windows 7 still maintaining a 53% market share and
Windows 8 sat on 6%, Microsoft cannot afford another failure.