Events such as the Professional Developer Conference 2008, Windows Hardware Conference 2008 and TechEd EMEA will be focused on Windows 7 and Windows Cloud, although less on Windows Vista. But at the same time, both Vista SP2 and Windows 7 are nothing more than the evolution of Vista, to a lesser, and respectively a larger degree.Ĭome the end of October 2008, and the start of November, Microsoft will deliver a rather consistent taste of where it is heading with Windows, not only Windows 7, but also Windows 7 Server and Windows Strata (the label continues to be unconfirmed by the company). And Vista SP2 along with Windows 7 and Windows Cloud (Strata) are the future. Windows Vista, even with SP1, is a present that makes the future seem to not get here fast enough. Of course, Windows XP, even with Service Pack 3, is the past, with the exception of customers abandoning Windows Vista by exercising their downgrade rights. For those who don't have a clear plan to move away from Windows 7, it is about time to create one,' she said.The evolution of the Windows client, involving both Windows Vista (now with Service Pack 1) and Windows 7, appears to be closer than Microsoft is ready to acknowledge officially. 'Even though businesses are reluctant to purchase more recent versions of Windows, keeping themselves without security updates is incredibly dangerous, and the risk of financial and reputational damage is huge. If they don't upgrade soon, then worst-case scenario could be another WannaCry-style attack.' said Nir. Cyberattacks aren't going to disappear overnight security teams should be working to protect their organisations' networks. 'Ultimately, these organisations need to upgrade and the sooner the better. However, by choosing to use an unsupported version of Windows 7, it might only be a matter of time before an organisation finds itself falling victim to cyber attackers looking to target the decade-old operating system.

Despite Windows 7 reaching end of life, some organisations remain resistant to upgrading, often citing that the change will be complex or expensive.

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