NEW YORK, November 4, 2016: US tech giant Microsoft has ended sale for both the Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems and these can no longer be bought with a new PC.

"End of sales refers to the date when a particular version of Windows is no longer shipped to retailers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)," Forbes.com reported on Thursday.

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Examples of OEMs include Dell and Toshiba, PC manufacturers who often pre-install Windows software.

While Windows 7, launched in 2009, was on sale for seven years, Windows 8/8.1 was on sale for just four years.

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Despite ongoing updates support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 until January 2020 and 2023, the end of sales is likely to give the flatlining Windows 10 a boost, the report said.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would roll out two major updates for Windows 10 next year.

According to Windows Central, while the first major update for 2017 — codenamed Redstone 2 — would release in the early part of 2017, the second one — codenamed Redstone 3 — might be released in 2017 summer. (IANS)