Microsoft is set to bid adieu to Windows 8.1 early next year and will soon alerts users via notifications. The tech giant is ending Windows 8.1 support in January 2023, and will begin pushing alerts to users next month.
"Support for Windows 8 ended on January 12, 2016, and support for Windows 8.1 will end on January 10, 2023," the company said in an update.
"Microsoft 365 Apps is no longer supported on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 after they have reached their end of support dates. To avoid performance and reliability issues, we recommend that you move to a newer version of Windows," the company added.
Microsoft will not offer extended security update (ESU) programme for Windows 8.1.
"After that date, if you're running Microsoft 365, you'll no longer receive updates for the Office apps; this includes feature, security, and other quality updates," said the company, and advised users to upgrade to a supported operating system.
Most Windows 8.1 or Windows 8 devices will not meet the hardware requirements for upgrading to Windows 11. "As an alternative, compatible Windows 8 and 8.1 PCs can be upgraded to Windows 10 by purchasing and installing a full version of the software," said the company.
Windows 10 will continue to be supported until October 14, 2025. Microsoft recommended users to take advantage of the latest hardware capabilities by moving to a new PC with Windows 11.
Meanwhile, amid the debate over the controversial facial recognition technology, Microsoft has recently announced to restrict public access to several of its AI-powered facial analysis tools, including retiring facial analysis tools that purport to infer emotional states and identity gender, age, smile, facial hair, hair and makeup. The tech giant said that it will not provide open-ended API (application programming interface) access to technology that can scan people's faces and purport to infer their emotional states based on their facial expressions or movements.