Microsoft will offer free Windows 7 support for election officials through 2020
Microsoft is expected to announce Friday it will offer state and local election officials free support for Windows 7 operating systems used in voting systems through 2020, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Microsoft has long planned to stop providing security updates for Windows 7 users in general in January 2020, but was allowing users to pay for those updates through 2023. But the offer of free services through next year’s U.S. presidential election is an additional effort to make it easier to update operating software used in voting systems, such as the election management systems that format ballots. Many systems that support voting in the U.S. still rely on Windows 7, which is not nearly as straightforward to update on those machines as it is on a personal computer. Patches require installation and testing to verify that they will not disrupt a voting system. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has said it will not de-certify […]
The post Microsoft will offer free Windows 7 support for election officials through 2020 appeared first on CyberScoop.
Continue reading Microsoft will offer free Windows 7 support for election officials through 2020