Microsoft Edge will end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 in the middle of January next year, shortly after those operating systems (OS) stop getting regular security updates, the company has announced. Microsoft has also said that Windows 7 and 8 support will also end for Microsoft Edge Webview2, which can use Edge's rendering engine to embed webpages in non-Edge apps. WebView2 is a developer control for embedding web content in applications.
Both operating systems will end support for Edge on January 10, 2023, according to a company blog post. Moreover, Chrome support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 is also ending, so users will need to upgrade to Windows 10 or Windows 11 to use the browser.
"We also encourage developers to end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1," Microsoft wrote in a blog post.
Also read: Phone Verification Added For Twitter Blue Subscription. Know Everything
"We acknowledge that this may not be easy for some developers to do, however ending support for these operating systems will help keep end users safe from potential security threats and risks as both operating systems go out of support on January 10th, 2023," the tech giant added.
It should be noted that Edge will continue to operate on Windows 11 and the later releases of Windows 10, apart from supported versions of macOS, Linux, iOS as well as Android OS.
However, Microsoft Edge browser version 109 and Webview2 runtime version 109 will be the last respective versions to support these operating systems. While Microsoft Edge and Webview2 Runtime versions 109 and earlier will continue to work on these operating systems, those versions will not receive new features, future security updates, or bug fixes, the blog post added.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is considering building a “super app” that could include shopping, messaging, web search, news feeds and other services, says a recent report by The Information. The report quoted people with direct knowledge of the discussions, stating that through this app, Microsoft executives want to boost advertising business and draw more people to Bing and Teams messaging and other mobile services.