With this approach, Microsoft probably decided to avoid the scenario that happened with Windows XP that came out back in in 2001, but maintenance and support for it will end in 2014 after numerous extensions and patches. According to the information that Microsoft has stated on the official website, users of Windows 8 will have support for the next two years after the release of the new version 8.1, or te be more precise, until 18th of October 2015.

Only the upcoming version of Windows 8.1 Microsoft will be supported until the January 9 of 2018, while extended support will be available to 10th of January 2023. So if you have Windows 8, we would strongly advise you to upgrade to 8.1, simply to avoid problems in future.

[Ed - Microsoft is trying really hard to force people into using only the current version of Windows. Just the other day we noticed that they pulled Technet and MSDN keys for XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. This is despite the fact that many people still use these operating systems for testing in their environments. It is an unusual move as windows XP keys were available for much longer than Windows Vista and 7. All of this will come back to bite Micosoft in the end.]

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