Will Windows 7 Be Unsupported?

I received the following question in my email yesterday:

I know Windows XP was no longer supported earlier this year. Is there a date when Windows 7 (my version) will no longer be supported either? How will I know?

Every software product produced will eventually have a date when it is no longer supported, regardless of who produced it.  Companies generally provide information about their support lifecycles on their websites, and it is sometimes also included in the printed documentation you received with your software.

There are many reasons for ending support for a product.  One of the biggest reasons is the time it takes to train employees to support the program.  We all want support staff to be knowledgeable about the company's products, but it will take more training time (and therefore, more money) to keep training staff on older products.  For operating systems, internet browsers, and other software that has to be kept secure, it also costs money to develop patches for security problems found in the software.

While it can be frustrating to give up a product we like before we are ready, it is something we have to accept.  Technology advanced quite substantially in the twelve-year support life of Windows XP.  When XP was released, we were still three years away from the release of the first Blackberry, five years away from the release of the first iPhone and Android phone, and eight years away from the release of the first commercially-successful tablets.

For each version of Windows, Microsoft actually has two different end-of-support dates.  The first, mainstream support, ends at the later of five years after the product is released or two years after it successor is released.  The end of mainstream support means that Microsoft will no longer provide free technical support and new features, along with a few other items.  For most users, the end of mainstream support is nothing to be concerned about.

The second, extended support, is what recently ended for Windows XP.  Extended support for Microsoft's products ends at the later of five years after the product is released or two years after the second successor is released.  (For Windows 7, this would mean two years after the release of Windows 9.)  After the end-of-support date, Microsoft is no longer required to provide security patches to fix problems discovered.  With XP, it did fix one additional problem discovered about a week after support ended, but it has released no other patches.

According to Microsoft's website, the current end-of-support dates (for extended support) are as follows:
Windows Vista:  April 11, 2017
Windows 7:  January 14, 2020
Windows 8:  January 10, 2023

However, these dates (especially for Windows 7 and 8) are likely to change since successor products have not been released.  Furthermore, with XP, Microsoft originally scheduled an end-of-support date for sometime in 2011 or 2012 (I do not remember the exact date), but it later extended it to 2014 due to the number of computers still running XP.  If Windows 9 does not offer a substantial improvement over Windows 8 and companies and individuals keep holding onto Windows 7, it is likely that Microsoft will extend support for Windows 7 even longer.