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These operating systems are about to lose support for Microsoft 365

These operating systems are about to lose support for Microsoft 365
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

  • Updated:

Microsoft Office’s suite of productivity tools like Word, Excel, and now the likes of Teams too is so quintessentially Microsoft, probably even more so than Windows itself, that Microsoft changed the name from Office 365 to Microsoft 365. That move for the subscription plan that gives users constant access to the most up-to-date features, means that sooner or later static versions of other Microsoft programs will soon get left behind. That’s what is happening here as older versions of Windows operating systems are losing support for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 Download Now

The news, which Microsoft has published as a part of its tech community blog service advises users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 to act now if they want to maintain access to Microsoft 365 apps beyond January 10, 2023.

Officially Microsoft hasn’t been supporting Microsoft 365 apps on these older operating systems for a while now. The key, however, is that while they might not have been getting full updates, they have been getting security updates, which means that they have been safe to use at least, even if they haven’t been up to date with all the latest features.

It is the security support that Microsoft is finally pulling, which means continuing to use Microsoft 365 apps on these older operating systems will be much riskier after January 10 next year.

Microsoft has released a document, which outlines the different operating systems it offers that can support the continued use of Microsoft 365 apps. At this point, if you are a user of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows Server 2008 R2, updating is the only option available to you if you want to keep using your Microsoft 365 apps.

There have been quite a few breaking stories about Microsoft 365 in recent weeks including the release of Microsoft Defender, the free antivirus program that Microsoft 365 users get access to and the new Intelligent Translation feature coming to Microsoft Teams. To stay up to date with all these stories bookmark our Microsoft 365 news page and subscribe to push notifications.

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

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