


It remained an operating system for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs, and itself was replaced in November 2012 by Windows 8, the name spanning more than three years of the product. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly three years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009.

Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. Installing Service Pack 1 is required for users to receive updates and support after April 9, 2013. Įxceptions exist, see § Support lifecycle for details. Security updates were available for the operating system until January 10, 2023, excluding some embedded editions. This service was available via specific volume licensing programs for Professional & Enterprise editions, and via OEMs for some embedded editions, in yearly installments. Windows 7 was eligible for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) service. Įxtended support ended on January 14, 2020 ( ). Mainstream support ended on January 13, 2015 ( ). Source-available (through Shared Source Initiative).Usually commercial software or games are produced for sale or to serve a commercial purpose. Even though, most trial software products are only time-limited some also have feature limitations. After that trial period (usually 15 to 90 days) the user can decide whether to buy the software or not. Trial software allows the user to evaluate the software for a limited amount of time. Demos are usually not time-limited (like Trial software) but the functionality is limited. In some cases, all the functionality is disabled until the license is purchased. Demoĭemo programs have a limited functionality for free, but charge for an advanced set of features or for the removal of advertisements from the program's interfaces. In some cases, ads may be show to the users. Basically, a product is offered Free to Play (Freemium) and the user can decide if he wants to pay the money (Premium) for additional features, services, virtual or physical goods that expand the functionality of the game. This license is commonly used for video games and it allows users to download and play the game for free. There are many different open source licenses but they all must comply with the Open Source Definition - in brief: the software can be freely used, modified and shared. Programs released under this license can be used at no cost for both personal and commercial purposes. Open Source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify or enhance. Freeware products can be used free of charge for both personal and professional (commercial use). Freeware programs can be downloaded used free of charge and without any time limitations.
