Windows 8 Is Not Catching On

Windows 8 is  having a hard time exciting the masses .many people shopping for a new PC just want the familiarity of Windows 7.
Pay a visit to Best Buy, and you'll find that if you hope to stick with Windows 7, you may be in for a rude awakening. "We don't carry Windows 7 anymore. It was phased out last year," a blue-shirted salesperson told us at a Dedham, Massachusetts, store.
That may be true at the Best Buy we visited, but when it comes to the availability of Windows 7 PCs, you still have options. You just need to know where to look.

Windows 7: Alive but fading

It's true that new Windows 7 PC options are vanishing to make room for Windows 8 machines. Net Applications reports that in January, for the first time since Windows 7 went on sale, the operating system lost market share. But there's no need to panic quite yet if you want a new PC that runs the older OS. Microsoft claims that its plans for ending the sale of PCs preinstalled with Windows 7 are "to be determined." However, the company does say that it will end mainstream support for Windows 7 in January 2015.

Way back in 2010, Microsoft shed light on what its commitment to support past Windows operating systems was going to be. "We are confirming our current policy of allowing retailers to sell the boxed version of the previous OS for up to one year after release of a new OS, and that OEMs can sell PCs with the previous OS pre-loaded for up to 2 years after the launch date of the new OS," wrote Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc on a company blog.

If this policy first stated in 2010 holds true, it means that retailers can sell boxed copies of Windows 7 until October 26, 2013, and that Dell, HP, and Lenovo can sell Windows 7 PCs until October 2014.tom spring