Windows 7 launched in 2009, which seems like such a long time ago. Despite this, there are still those who have refused to upgrade. With Microsoft dropping support for the OS, there are no reasons to remain on the OS due to obvious security concerns. The same applies to Windows 8 as well as 8.1, as it too will be reaching the end of its life soon. Now, Nvidia is next to drop these OS versions onto the chopping block.
The company announced the other day that it will be dropping support for all three versions of the Windows operating system in a push toward greater security. The change will be taking place in October 2021, with the last Game Ready Driver (ver R470 GA5) releasing October 31st. Providing a four-month window for gamers to upgrade to a newer system if they haven’t yet. Once Nvidia drops support for these versions, there will no longer be any security updates or patches being delivered.
Thankfully, Windows 7 represents a very small share of Windows users (15.52%) around the world, with Windows 8 (1.27%) and 8.1 (3.44%) representing much less than that. Then again, if we want an effective push toward a secure internet, it is incredibly important that these outdated versions be completely buried unless they are installed within sandboxed environments for various testing purposes. In most cases, these versions aren’t even worth being preserved for the purposes of retro uses since most games or apps that supported Windows 7 can live on through Windows 10 just fine.
