Microsoft extends support for Windows 7 and Vista

Microsoft has extended the support policies for its Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.

Users of Vista will now receive continued security updates for at least five years after Microsoft ceases mainstream support in April this year.

In January we reported that Microsoft was unlikely to offer extended support for consumer editions of Windows Vista beyond April. At the time Microsoft said it would "evaluate the Support Lifecycle" for the operating system (OS) and would make decisions about extending support "as and when necessary".

The news that the company will now support Vista for the next five years will come as a relief to users.

This is not the first time Microsoft has given a reprieve to the life cycle of an OS. In 2007 the company extended mainstream support for the home edition of Windows XP until 2009, with the OS due to be officially retired in April 2014.

Now Vista will be officially supported for everyone until 11 April 2017 and Windows 7 until 14 January 2020.

Microsoft has also changed the logo for its next operating system, Windows 8. The company will be ditching the familiar Windows 'flag' and using a graphic similar to that used for the company's very first Windows system.

Sam Moreau of the company's Windows development team said on the Windows blog that the company "did less of a re-design and more to return it to its original meaning and bringing Windows back to its roots - reimagining the Windows logo as just that - a window."