all: announce end of support for old Windows releases

[cagedmantis]

Microsoft continuously releases new version of Windows. We should announce end of support for Windows versions as we discover that they are either no longer supported by Microsoft or no longer have any use as a builder.

Relevant recent discussion: #47845

/cc @golang/release

[cagedmantis]

@zx2c4 The creation of this issue does not signal a plan to drop support. This issue has been created in order to add an explicit step for the consideration of our support stance during each release.

[zx2c4]

Makes sense. One nit though:

as we discover that they are either no longer supported by Microsoft or no longer have any use as a builder.

Windows 7 is basically out of support now by Microsoft. But it's still supported by Chrome. I tried to come up with a reasonable set of criteria for when I should/could drop support for old Windows for my own software, but ultimately I kept coming back to, "if Chrome supports it, why shouldn't I?" I wonder if Go finds itself in a similar situation there too.

[alexbrainman]

I still use Windows 7 on one of my computers. And I have to install Microsoft updates on it pretty regularly (every week). So there are still enough users for Microsoft to care.

Alex

[dmitshur]

Adding a data point observed in Git for Windows release notes upcoming breaking changes section:

[...] Around the beginning of 2023, Git for Windows will drop support for Windows 7 and for Windows 8, following Cygwin's and MSYS2's lead (Git for Windows relies on MSYS2 for components such as Bash and Perl).

[qmuntal]

Another data point: .NET support for Windows 7 and 8.1 will end in January 2023: dotnet/announcements#226

[zx2c4]

Only kind of:

We will offer support for Windows Server 2012/R2 throughout .NET 7 and .NET 8

2012R2 is v6.3, like 8.1.