It is just nice that Halloween falls on a Friday this year, which means you will be able to attend whatever parties that are being organized right after work, and need not worry about having to go to work the next day since you can cab it home after painting the town red at the wildest parties the night before. While Halloween intends to be a scary event, perhaps those who have yet to make the jump to Windows 8 or later might wet their pants more than normal, as we have received word on how Microsoft intends to stop selling copies of Windows 7 OEM when October 31st arrives.
This Friday is Halloween, but if you try to buy a PC with Windows 7 pre-loaded after that, you’re going to get a rock instead of a treat. Microsoft will stop selling Windows 7 licenses to OEMs after this Friday and you will only be able to buy a machine with Windows 8.1. It’s mostly a formality at this point. A few months back I went PC shopping for my father and there wasn’t a single Windows 7 PC to be had at retail, regardless of the store. From Fry’s to Best Buy to Office Depot, it was a Windows 8 world, and I wasn’t about to inflict that on my dad. I had to place an online order from Dell and get an older PC from the inventory. The good news is that business/enterprise customers will still be able to order PCs “downgraded” to Windows 7 Professional. Microsoft has not set an end date for when it will cut off Windows 7 Professional to OEMs, but it will likely be a while. This all fits in with typical Microsoft timing. Microsoft usually pulls OEM supply of an OS a year after it removes it from retail. Microsoft cut off the retail supply of Windows 7 in October of last year, although some retailers still have some remaining stock left.