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Microsoft 365 Apps To Lose Support on Windows 8.1 Next Year
Microsoft this week warned that organizations using Microsoft 365 Apps on some of its older Windows operating systems need to upgrade those OSes to a newer version soon or risk losing patch support.
Those older Windows OSes include Windows 8.1, plus Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 using Extended Security Updates (ESU). All of those OSes are scheduled to fall out of support on Jan. 10, 2023.
The ESU program essentially ends for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on that January date. Microsoft 365 Apps isn't even supported on those OSes, the announcement grimly noted.
Microsoft also indicated that it will block new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 8.1 on the Jan. 10, 2023 date.
Support for Microsoft 365 Apps is predicated on running a supported Windows OS. Microsoft can lay claim to such a requirement because Microsoft 365 Apps follows Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy, which mandates that customers have to be running up-to-date software versions. If they aren't, no updates or security patches will arrive.
Microsoft 365 Apps is the product name for the former Microsoft 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus subscriptions, which give organizations access to various Office productivity apps delivered as service. Microsoft had switched out the product names to Microsoft 365 Apps about a couple of years ago.
Microsoft also has some Office products that follow its Fixed Lifecycle Policy, such as the "perpetual-license" Office 2019 product. Typically, there's 10 years of support under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. However, Microsoft cut that support by three years specifically for its Office 2019 product, as announced more than four years ago.
Microsoft shows such support details in its Windows and Office configuration support matrix document.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.