Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft Operating Systems Windows IT

Windows 8 Will No Longer Get App Updates After This Summer (neowin.net) 52

An anonymous reader shares a report: Last year, Microsoft announced when it would be killing app updates and distribution in the Windows Store for Windows Phone 8.x and Windows 8.x. At the time, the blog post stated that Windows Phone 8.x devices would stop receiving app updates after July 1, 2019, while Windows 8.x devices would get app updates through July 1, 2023. However, it seems as though plans have changed a little bit, as the blog post has quietly been updated earlier this month. Microsoft has changed the wording in the post to state that Windows 8 devices will stop getting updates for their apps at the same time as Windows Phone 8.x, that is, July 1 of this year. Windows 8.1 devices will continue to receive updates through the previously announced date in 2023.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Windows 8 Will No Longer Get App Updates After This Summer

Comments Filter:
  • Apps (Score:5, Informative)

    by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Friday April 19, 2019 @12:42PM (#58460060)

    This does not mean no updates. Just the "metro" style apps won't be updated. I don't use any of those and they're pretty pointless unless you like the full screen touch enabled phone-style (ie, you have a Surface).

    • This does not mean no updates. Just the "metro" style apps won't be updated.

      It's not necessary to make that distinction since Windows 8 hasn't received actual updates since it was EOL'd January 2018.

      • By Windows 8 I mean Windows 8.1. It's still good until 2023. I don't think many are on plain Windows 8 anymore unless they never heard that there was an update.

  • And good riddance. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Friday April 19, 2019 @12:43PM (#58460066) Journal

    I paid money for 8, ended up rolling back to 7 and waiting for 10. The sooner Windows 8 disappears, the better.

    • Look into 8.1 embedded. All the goodness of 7 and 10, with none of the shit from 10. All telemetry ripped out, only security updates, native support for nVME drives, etc.
      A very nice win7-looking OS supported through 2024.

  • by jwymanm ( 627857 ) on Friday April 19, 2019 @12:53PM (#58460124) Homepage
    Microsoft should've double downed on a mobile platform. They could've done what they did with Edge and basically ran an Amazon Fire phone like edition of Android to cut costs and benefit from Google. They could've been hands off on the branding (because anything they brand is hated by consumers whether it is good or not) and let Nokia continue to make good hardware that ran "Android" but with MS apps all packaged and integrated properly.

    They think that it cost them too much trying to launch the Windows Phone mobile platform? Wait until they have to do it anyway to remain in the public view when Android and iPhone have 2-3 decades running and they have to start from scratch 5-10 years from now. It will take trillions to enter and compete then. Once these web based platforms really kick in and compete with Office and everything goes web/stream based Windows days are numbered. The only money generator will be their cloud business and that has good Amazon and Google competition also.
    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      You forget business is up to their eyeballs in windows only software. Move it to the cloud or wherever you please, there's no getting rid of that trash.

      • by jwymanm ( 627857 )
        That's changing. Yeah it might be another 10-20 years before it matters but ActiveX is dead, flash is going out the door, silverlight is dead. I work at a large Enterprise company and they went with Openoffice for a large number of employees. All internal apps being developed are also web based. Windows is a management nightmare and licensing costs have increased significantly. Mobile devices have actually really been implemented almost on a 1:1 basis with desktops.
    • They could've done what they did with Edge and basically ran an Amazon Fire phone like edition of Android to cut costs and benefit from Google.

      That is pretty much exactly what they are doing without actually selling hardware. Want Bing search? Got it. Want Edge on Android? Got it. Want a custom Microsoft Launcher? Got it. All the Office Apps? Got those. Integration with OneDrive, Azure clients, integration with corporate systems? It's all there.

      You just get to experience it on decent hardware with a well made underlying OS.

      • by jwymanm ( 627857 )
        It's just funny they went through and got Nokia, one of the best handset makers, and then decide to just stop with those plans instead of going big into Enterprise and allowing Samsung/Apple to lead there. I really feel like in the future the ratio will be 2 or maybe even 3:1 mobile devices to desktops. They are basically missing the entire market to save money. Mobile will be 75% of Enterprise money in the future. Apple doesn't seem to take it serious and Google seems to be ho humming about it so Microsoft
        • Mobile will be 75% of Enterprise money in the future.

          I disagree. Mobiles are disposable gadgets. The money is in the data management, and in that regard they are the single best placed vendor and likely to cash in on a large portion of that 75%. Between their Azure / Office 365 combination, breaking into Mobile Device Management, MFA for Windows enterprise accounts through mobile, etc.

          They are just focusing on leveraging their existing enterprise platforms. There is no money in hardware providing your software works, and in that regard they have complete inte

  • Don't you just hate it when important information as this is (at least to the people it'll affect) get announced by just quietly changing the text in posts people have already read?

  • The first update that was initiated on 12th Nov 2009 has just finished downloading and got installed. Machine is expected to be rebooted and ready for use in Summer. And.... no more updates.. Them are the breaks.....
  • by Targon ( 17348 ) on Friday April 19, 2019 @03:09PM (#58461006)

    It's always been a free update to go from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, so I'm not sure that this is a big problem, except for those who for some really odd reason don't want to receive a better experience. This isn't the same as going from 8 to 10, this is 8 to 8.1 and it eliminates concerns over app updates.

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Working...