Only Windows 10 on new PCs after October 2016

Microsoft has confirmed that OEMs will no longer be allowed to sell new computers with Windows 7 or 8.x after October 31, 2016. If you buy a new PC after that date, you won’t have any options besides Windows 10.

Support for Windows 7 – including security updates – will continue to 2020, so it’s still a perfectly viable operating system. But it’s unclear whether you will still be able to purchase Windows 7 OEM separately, from Microsoft or any other seller, after October 31, 2016. I certainly hope so, although it seems unlikely. So if you’re planning to build any new Windows 7 computers between October 2016 and 2020, you should stock up on Windows 7 OEM licenses now.

Windows 10 build 10586

Microsoft is happy with the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build, designated 10586. That means it will find its way to your Windows 10 computer over the next week or so as the Windows 10 Fall Update. This will roughly coincide with next week’s Patch Tuesday.

My Insider Preview test machine is configured to get the latest updates, so I’ve been using 10586, and the builds that were available in the interim since the last public release (10240) for a while. Now that the test computer is running the new release version, the ‘Insider Preview build’ message is once again gone from the desktop. That will change when Microsoft pushes out the next preview version.

There’s not a lot to talk about here. Most of the changes are fairly minor, including coloured title bars, tab previews in Edge, general cleanup in user interface elements, and improvements to the Start menu. Skype will get several enhancements. Several bugs have also been fixed.

Update 2015Nov15: Ars Technica has a list of changes in the new release, and really, there’s not much of interest.

With this release, Microsoft has also changed the way it identifies Windows 10 versions. The previous release was “Version 10.0 (Build 10240).” The new release is “Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.3)” where “1511” refers to the 11th month of 2015. They like to keep us confused, don’t they?