Web browsers dropping support for Windows 7

Next week, Microsoft will release Microsoft Edge 109, the web browser's last version to come with support for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1.

This version of Microsoft Edge will also be the last to support Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

A similar announcement was made by Google in October when the company said that version 110 of its Google Chrome web browser would also likely drop support for Windows 7 and 8.1 starting in February 2023.

Microsoft Edge 109 and Google Chrome 110 will continue to work on legacy operating systems, but they will no longer receive security updates and bug fixes, exposing their users to security risks.

Google Chrome now has a market share of over 64%, followed by Safari with roughly 18% and Microsoft Edge (which uses Chrome's Blink rendering engine with enhancements from Microsoft) with just over 4%.

Other vendors have already dropped support for Windows 7 ahead of the date when the OS will stop receiving security updates.

For instance, NVIDIA is no longer providing Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 drivers since last year, starting in October 2021.

:story: Bleeping Computer