Microsoft Windows 7 extended security support to double in price every year

Extended Security Updates for Windows 7 Pro to start at $50 per PC in year one

Microsoft has revealed the pricing for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates when the company discontinues extended support for the popular desktop operating system in January next year.

And, no doubt to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 10 sooner rather than later, the price will double every year.

According to leaks, Windows 7 Extended Security Updates will cost $25 per machine for Windows Enterprise volume licences, and $50 per PC for Windows 7 Pro. But that is only in year one, starting in January 2020. From January 2021, the price will double to $50 and $100, respectively, and from January 2022 it will double again, to $100 and $200 per machine.

On top of that, users won't be able to opt-in in years two and three without also paying for the prior years' extended support; and, by the end of year three, organisations will be expected to have finally migrated to Windows 10.

However, according to ZDNet, which got hold of the leaked document, the pricing remains open to negotiation between organisations and their Microsoft account managers.

Extended support won't, however, be extended to home users.

Windows 7 was released in October 2009, the successor to the much unloved Windows Vista. Mainstream support ended on 13 January 2015, and extended support will be discontinued on 14 January 2020.

As of December 2018, Windows 7 still accounts for more than 35 per cent of computers running Windows, according to Statcounter, with Windows 10 now account for just over 50 per cent having only just overtaken Windows 7 earlier that year.